


Neighbors. A Sabriel Fic.

by Lance_buddy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Human Gabriel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 36,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2734832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lance_buddy/pseuds/Lance_buddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A human!Gabriel normal life!Sam apartment!au    Sam Winchester, fresh out of college, was living happily in his apartment, until he met his neighbor who seemed only there to amuse him.<br/>Gabriel Novak, an art major, just couldn't live his life knowing someone didn't like him.<br/>(Bits of Destiel too.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Something was crawling across his feet, something scaly and scary. It was time for sleep not time for terror, but if there was going to be sleep in Sam's near future he was going to have to get rid of the nasty, terrifying, whatever that seemed to like crawling on his feet.

Carefully Sam turned on the lamp, then screamed, kicking the nasty across the room into the corner where it stayed twitching. He grabbed the bat he kept next to his bed for protection and went to the corner. He poked the nasty and it started to crawl away, but did so miserably with two legs broken. The second it started moving, Sam started beating it with the bat.

Don't go around thinking Sam was a wimp. He was tired as it was 2:00 In the morning, and he was a bit tipsy from hanging out with his friends and girlfriend at the bar just a few blocks down the street.

The room was dim, the only source of light being the lamp on the opposite side of the room. Sam beat the unidentifiable nasty until he was sure it was dead. By now it looked like roadkill, and left a mess on the carpet, but it was too late to do anything, and honestly Sam didn't really care. He just wanted to get some sleep.

When Sam woke up, that night's events came flooding back to him. He jumped out of bed to observe the nasty he'd killed. He sighed in relief, it was only a small lizard. Then he paused. Why the fuck had there been a lizard in his bed? He figured this was something to ask his landlord, so he didn't give it too much thought.

A disgusted look appeared on his face when he realized he'd have to pick it up. Sam searched desperately around his apartment for gloves or a paper towel, because God knows he wasn't going to touch it with his bare hands. He ended up using toilet paper. Sam picked it up by what he thought might be the tail and went out to his balcony to drop the lizard down into the alley, when a voice stopped him, "You killed her!"

You see, when the people were building these apartments, someone messed up. Two buildings were too close together, so there was only . About six inches between Sam's balcony and the balcony for the other building's resident.

"I what?" Sam asked.

"You killed Bertie! I mean I had no emotional connection to her. I only found her yesterday. But she had a name and probably a family. Imagine her babies and her mate all upset because Mommy never came home! Because you killed her!" A man on the opposite balcony exclaimed.

"Then why was it in my bed?" Sam asked. "And if you were so concerned about its family why'd you take it from where ever you found it?"

"She's a her not an it. And I don't know, she was cute. I guess I lost her though... but I could have sworn I closed my back door. Damn Bertie is a sly one."

"So you do have a connection. You did name her. I'm sorry I killed her." Sam said genuinely sorry.

"She doesn't mean anything to me. I said I had no emotional connection to her. I don't even want a lizard, I've got my cat Copernicus. Lizards are nasty creatures, why would God even create something so disgusting? I don't even know why I picked her up. Maybe she looked cute, but im dumb and I got her killed. Oh man! I'm a terrible person. Leave me to soak in my mise-"

"You are rambling." Sam said cutting him off.

The man blushed. "Sorry, I get that way sometimes..."

"Me too, but only around people I'm attracted to." Sam said, the man blushed again. "Oh."

"I'm Gabriel by the way. Gabriel Novak. Sorry about the lizard." He said extending his hand.

Sam dropped Bertie into the alley, then took Gabriel's hand, "Sam Winchester, sorry for killing her." Gabriel smiled at Sam, then went back into his apartment.

Sam didn't realize this wouldnt be the last of Gabriel he saw. Of course they were neighbors, but he didn't think they'd keep in contact; just a 'Hi how are you?' when they were both on their balconies.

But that of course never happened. Once Gabriel enters someone's life, he stays whether either of them likes it or not. Sam didn't mind all that much, just as long as there weren't unidentifiable nasties crawling all over his feet.


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Sam encountered Gabriel was actually on his own accord. It was cliched really, Sam needed sugar. He should have just gone to the store, but he'd gotten most of the ingredients mixed together and the oven was already on. So maybe Sam was being a bit lazy, but it was Jessica's birthday tomorrow and she'd probably be upset if he didn't make her a cake. 

Gabriel seemed like the most obvious person to ask. He was close and judging by type of music he played loud at 3:00 in the morning, he obviously had enough sugar for everyone in their entier apartment complex. Some might say it was an excuse to talk to Gabriel, but if you ever said that to Sam he would say he just needed to finish the cake for his girlfriend.

Sam didn't realize how big of a mistake it would be to ask Gabriel for the sugar until it was too late. The curtain to Gabriel's backdoor was pulled aside and the lights were on inside his living room. The situation seemed safe enough, until Sam knocked.

A few minutes later Gabriel appeared in the doorway wearing only a pair of blue booty shorts and a girl peeking around the corner holding a blanket to cover her body. "Yes, Sam?" Gabriel asked blowing stray hairs out of his face.

"Oh, uh, I didn't realize you were, uh, preoccupied. Sorry." Sam said, a blush filling his cheeks.

"It must have been important for you to come all the way over here." Gabriel smirked. "I wouldn't have stopped what I was doing," He nodded back to the woman in the corner, "For just anyone."

"N-no, no, go back to your activities. I'll just, uh, just leave now." Sam stuttered, turning away and easing himself back over the railings. 

"Suit yourself." Gabriel said sliding his door closed. 

Sam glanced back one last time before entering his apartment. He was met with the clear image of the girl, who was grinding into Gabriel, her hands roaming everywhere she could get them. As Gabriel slid his tongue from her ear down to her collar bone, he caught Sam's eye and winked. Sam's mouth dropped open and he blushed even harder, rushing back into the safety of his home. 

Once inside he shut the backdoor and closed the curtain, Sam wanted to keep his retinas in tact. The image of Gabriel and the woman was etched into his eyelids. He was positive he was going to have nightmares for a long time. Sam turned off the stove, put the bowl of almost cake batter into the sink, and grabbed his keys. Jess was just going to have to deal with a store bought cake.

***

Later that week, on a particularly warm day, Sam left his backdoor open while he was reading. He started one chapter, and by the end of the next he realized there was a cat sitting in his lap. "Oh hello there." He cooed, scratching underneath its chin. The cat was purring and snuggled deeper into Sam's lap. 

Honestly he probably should have been worried about possibly contracting rabies or something, there were no tags or collar around its neck, but something in his gut told him this cat was safe. Another clue to the cat mystery was Gabriel, who was standing in the doorway of his backdoor. "You've got my cat."

"So I don't have to worry about diseases?" Sam asked, "Or should I be even more concerned?"

Gabriel scoffed, "No. She has all of her shots." he said. Then he mumbled, "She never cuddles with me like that."

"Maybe she doesn't like you."

"Everyone likes me, therefore you, sir, are wrong." He stated. 

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Who said I like you?"

A hurt look shone across Gabriel's face for a moment before going back to the way it had been, Sam almost felt bad. "Can I just have my cat back please?"

"No one is stopping you from taking her." Sam said. Gabriel grabbed Copernicus, doing so his hand brushed against Sam's upper thigh accidentally. Sam jerked his leg to the side and Gabriel blushed a bright red. He stood up straight, adjusted is grip on his cat and walked back out the door.

Gabriel hadn't actually ever been told to his face that someone didn't like him. Sure people would get annoyed with him, but who didn't? They just kept their irritation to himself. Even his old exes hadn't said they hated him. They called him a dick, and an asshole, but never had the words 'I hate you" slipped out of their mouths. For some reason he needed Sam to like him, at least a little bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Gabriel was an artist, at least that's what he majored in. He had yet to hear the public's opinions of his art though. His work was adequate, at least that's what his professor had told him. His classmates often talked about how strange he was, saying he was unconventional because he used spray pain and air-brushes compared to their acrylics, pencil, and chalk.

Gabriel had a large canvas outside on his balcony along with a large array of colors and his air-brushes. About a fourth of the way through his painting he noticed how colorful his balcony now was. Paint splatters were everywhere and it looked pretty, but he doubted his landlord would enjoy it as much as he did.

"Whatcha doing?" Sam called out from his back door.

"Painting."

"I figured, you kinda got my deck a little." Gabriel's eyes widened and he shoved the canvas aside to see Sam's balcony. It was much like his own deck, but much worse. The splatters were much larger and only on the left side of his balcony. Instead of the rainbow of colors on Gabriel's deck, Sam's were only blue, purple, and silver.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Uh, I can clean it up. Just give me a minute to clean myself up and then i can get your balcony." He said rushing to clear out his air brush.

Sam laughed, "Nah, it's alright. I kinda like it."

"Are you sure? I can get it off. I'm sort of an expert at getting paint off of things." Gabriel pressed.

"It's fine. Gives my balcony personality. A Gabriel original."

Gabriel was still wary, "Well, I guess when you move out I can pay the fine for damaging the property."

"If it'll help you sleep at night." He said. "Can I see what you are painting?"

"Nope. Nah. Nuh-uh. Not until I'm done!" Sam pouted.

"Oh, put the puppy eyes away, they won't work on me. After living with my brother for 13 years, I'm immune." Gabriel said pulling out his own puppy eyes.

'Ugh," Sam groaned. "I really hate you sometimes." he said and went back inside.

Gabriel was still working on his painting when the sun set and when it was rising again. He was so focused he didn't realize the sun had even disappeared until Sam was standing on his porch with wet hair and new clothing. "You look like shit." He stated.

"Gee thanks. Why are you wet? Wait, is it morning?" Gabriel asked.

"Uh, yeah." Sam said giving Gabriel a strange look.

"Shit, what time is it?"

"Around 7:30ish why?"

"God damn it! I'm late for work!" Gabriel shouted rushing to cap the paints and put his air-brush back in its box, all while trying to scrub off the paint from his arms.

Sam was unsure of what he could do to help the frantic little man. Gabriel really did look awful, he had bags under his eyes, and his hair was a mess. There were paint smears all along his body, and Sam was sure he noticed a large purple stain on the back of his neck. Gabriel was rushing around his house half dressed, a toothbrush in his mouth, and one shoe on mumbling to himself, "I've got to walk too, I'm so stupid"

"I could drive you if you want." Sam said standing in the threshold of Gabriel's back door.

Gabriel paused, looking up at Sam with surprise, "Could you?"

Sam shrugged, "I wouldn't have offered if I was busy."

A look of relief flooded Gabriel's face, "Thanks." He said, and continued frantically getting ready.

He met Sam down in the parking lot. "Seriously thank you." Gabriel said again.

Sam shook his head and smiled, "Just get in the car." He said. "So where am I taking you?" Sam asked once they were inside.

"Right, just down the street to the Local Artist Art Gallery."

The whole ride there was silent except for the sound of Gabriel digging through his bag for his nametag. Sam might have called it a purse if he was to get technical, but if he'd said that out loud Gabriel more than likely would have smacked him with it.

Sam parked next to the curb outside the gallery and as Gabriel was getting out, he stopped him, "Wait, you still have paint on your face." Gabriel rubbed at his cheeks, but missed, "No, here let me." Sam said raising his hand to Gabriel's jaw, and wiped away the purple smear with his thumb, looking into the shorter man's eyes the whole time.

Gabriel bit his lip, "I, uh, I've got to go. You don't have to pick me up or anything." He said blushing. "Thanks, you know, again." Sam smiled and waved him off.

"Ooh, who was that?" Gabriel's best friend and co-worker, Stella asked as he took his seat next to her at the Help/Info desk.

"My neighbor." he replied curtly.

"Come on, you can't tell me there wasn't something there." She said.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "You seem to forget I have a girlfriend." 

"That doesn't mean shit!" She exclaimed.

Gabriel ignored her and went into the back room to grab more pamphlets.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. "Stella apologized. Gabriel was shocked by how sincere she sounded. "And I'd never forget about your stuck up girlfriend Kali who never bothers to come visit you here even though she literally works across the street at the stuck up bank with her other stuck up teller friends." And there was the real Stella. 

"Kali isn't that stuck up, she's just an independent woman who knows what she wants." He said unconvincingly.

Stella scoffed, "She's just a bitch." Gabriel rolled his eyes, not even bothering to argue. 

The rest of the day was quiet, only maybe 25 visitors. Gabriel was supposed to give a tour, but none of the people showed up. "Since I did it yesterday, you have to go empty the donation boxes." Stella said. 

There were several different struggling artist's works at the gallery, and at each exhibit there was a donation box for that artist. He or she would get all of the money in that box to help them with their lives. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but hardly anyone donated. The Local Artist Art Gallery was struggling like the artists who's works were shown there. 

Gabriel wandered through the halls, pausing to look at his favorite ones, checking all of the donation boxes along the way. Gabriel needed to see his most favorite painting before heading back to the desk. 

"This one is my favorite." Gabriel said walking up to the taller man standing in front of the special painting. Sam jumped, holding his hand up to his chest. "I never saw you come in."

"You were talking to the woman behind the desk with you. I've only been here for twenty minutes." Sam replied. "Are any of these yours?"

Gabriel laughed lightly, "No, I'm not a struggling artist. And besides, my paintings are no where near as good as these." 

"I'd really like to see your paintings. If you still have them, that is."

"I haven't shown them to anyone before, besides my professor, and he didn't like them much."

"Gabriel! You better have not left with the donations like Bela did!" Stella yelled walking down the hall.

"I would never!" He called back, "There weren't any anyway."

"Hello," She said standing next to Gabriel. She stuck her hand out, "I'm Stella, your emotionally challenged neighbor's best friend. You have quite a face." she said elbowing Gabriel, winking at him.

Sam bit his lip, shaking her hand, "Er, thanks?"

"So you two are just neighbors?" Sam nodded, "You aren't special friends or anything?" she asked wiggling her eyebrows.

Gabriel's mouth dropped open, Stella had crossed the line. "Stella! What the fuck?" he yelled.

She looked back at him innocently. "It was just a question." Gabriel growled something incoherent and brushed past Sam, heading back to the front desk.

"Isn't it so much fun to make him angry?" Sam looked back at her incredulously. "Oh don't worry, I didn't mean anything by it. I know he has a girlfriend. He'll get over it." Sam couldn't think of anything to say, so he nodded and headed towards the exit.

Later that night Gabriel knocked on Sam's back door, holding a bag with his paintings in it, including the one he had finished that morning. Sam opened the door, "Hello."

"I'm sorry about Stella. She doesn't have a filter." Gabriel said. 

"She is quite something." Sam agreed. 

They stood there in silence until Gabriel thrusted the bag towards Sam. "You said you wanted to see my paintings."

"Are these the paintings?" He asked looking down at the bag. Gabriel nodded, "Come in, lets look at them." 

Sam sat on his couch, Gabriel sitting next to him. Carefully Sam took the largest canvas out of the bag. He looked at it intently, not criticizing it, but studying it; looking at the details he didn't want to miss. Silently he placed it on the other side of him on the couch, and pulled another out. Gabriel was partially worried, and partially excited, but he was mostly just screaming inside.

Sam went through the whole bag silently, until he got to the last one, the painting Gabriel had finished that morning, when he gasped. "It's beautiful." Gabriel held back a smile. "They are all wonderful, but this one. It's just so beautiful." Sam said unable to tear his eyes away.

"Do you want it?" 

Sam looked up surprised, "What?" 

"Would you like to keep the painting?" Gabriel said a little louder.

"How much do you want for it?"

Gabriel sighed, "Nothing, I'm giving it to you."

"Bu-"

"If you don't take the painting, I'll burn it." Gabriel said seriously.

An inhumane noise escaped Sam's throat and he hugged the canvas to his chest. "Fine, but I owe you." Gabriel smiled before heading back to his own apartment.

Much to Gabriel's delight, the painting was hanging in just the right spot where Gabriel could see it if the curtains were pulled aside.

The painting a dark silhouette with large silver and golden wings draping from its back. The background was swirling with color, but it seemed to blend together and merge into the silhouette. It truly was beautiful, no one could deny that. And if you asked Gabriel how he came up with the idea, he'd probably wouldn't say he had a not so little inspiration, but that'd be a lie.


	4. Chapter 4

I know nothing about court cases and the judicial system... so bear with me on this one....

 

Gabriel was called for jury duty. He sighed dramatically when he got the letter. Why would he want to sit in a room full of boring people talking dumb legal lingo for a few days over some problem between two people he didn't give a fuck about? Honestly he'd rather eat chalk, but because of his ignorance to file whatever forms were needed to not be called to duty, he had to do what every American was supposed to do sometime in their life. The only upside being that he still got played for the days he'd be spending in the courtroom.

He had to be called to the court to be questioned before he was able to actually be part of the jury. Gabriel was questioned by a man who seemed to have some importance in the courtroom, although he never gave a proper introduction, he radiated of someone who was much higher ranked than Gabriel. He also happened to have a deep monotonous voice that made Gabriel want to rip his ears off.

"Here is a list of the firms, lawyers, defendants, plaintiffs, and other possible jurors. Do any of them seem familiar in a way that would cause you to be bias and unwilling to be fair in this trial?" Gabriel skimmed the paper, it was full of names he'd never heard of before. He'd never needed a lawyer in his adult years, of course none of them were familiar.

"No, I don't know any of these people, although Mary Smith seems a little sketchy." 

The man looked at him questioningly, "How so?" 

"Her name is so generic and uncreative. What else am I supposed to think?" That comment earned him a glare. 

"Enough with your attempts at humor. If you are going to be in the jury then there will be no funny business!" The man snapped. 

Gabriel put his hands up in defense, "of course sir. I'll keep my comments to myself." 

"This specific case is an attempted murder and if you are squeamish by any evidence that may be a bit disturbing, then I suggest you back out now and be brought back for a less, dare say, offensive case."

Gabriel shook his head. "That is perfectly fine. The more disturbing the better." The man narrowed his eyes. 

"If you are not going to back out then be here on Monday morning at 8:30 at the courthouse and be prepared for the trial. Dress business casual. You will be juror number 6. You are free to go now."

Gabriel nodded, rose out of the chair and left as fast as possible.

The weekend blew by quickly, and the next thing he knew, Gabriel was waking up to the sound of his alarm going off at 5:30 in the morning. He groaned, slamming his hand along the nightstand until the alarm stopped beeping. He dragged himself out of bed and into the shower.

He pulled out an old suit from the back of his closet. It was a bit wrinkly and dusty but it worked well enough. Gabriel hadn't had to wear that particular suit since he was eighteen, and hadn't grown much since then. Quickly he dressed and pretty soon the bus dropped him off outside the courthouse. 

Gabriel wandered inside and then was ushered into the sixth juror chair. He watched as the courtroom filled up and the judge walked in. The only problem being that the defendant's lawyer never showed up. 

"You may all leave for today. We will continue tomorrow and hopefully Mr. Harbour will show up." The judge said. The same thing happened for the rest of the week. Gabriel would wake up at ungodly hours, get dressed up, and wait for a man who wouldn't show. The judge was tired of waiting, as was everyone else, the trial was going nowhere and the defendant was steadily becoming embarrassed. "You have 48 hours to find a new lawyer before your case is revoked." The judge stated getting up, "Until that time everyone may leave." 

***  
Sam was excited. This was his first ever case. He'd been working at the firm for over a year and it was about time that they gave him a real case to work. Of course they had to give him an attempted murder case right off the bat. He'd learn the facts, embellish the fuzzy edges, and convince the jury the man was innocent. Sam was so ecstatic that he showed up 40 minutes earlier than everyone else and had to track down the janitor to unlock the courtroom for him.

When Gabriel entered the courtroom and took his seat once again, he noticed Sam murmuring with the defendant over some paperwork, not even five feet from him. He suddenly wished he could be juror number eight so he could hide behind the freakishly tall juror number two.

A loud slam of someone's briefcase caused Sam to look up. He looked up and stopped mid-sentence when he laid eyes on Gabriel. Gabriel blushed and smiled sheepishly looking everywhere but the Winchester. The defendant looked up at Sam, confused by his sudden silence, then followed his gaze to Gabriel.

"Is this some sort of love at first sight thing?" He asked.

"N-no, he just looked familiar." Sam sputtered, shaking his head. The defendant raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. "Now, when anyone asks you any questions, I need you to answer with a simple straightforward answer. Don't give them any extra things for them to question you about."

The security guard next to the judge's chamber stood up, "All Rise!" he ordered. 

Everyone stood as the judge walked in and took his seat. "You may all sit. This is the case of Kentucky vs. Crowe." 

The prosecutor stepped forward, turned to the jury and started his opening statement. 

"March 24, 2014, Mr. Crowe had an argument with his neighbor and boss, Mrs. Murphy, about the amount of money he should be receiving in his paycheck. The next day, March 25, 2014, around 9:30 P.M. Mrs. Murphy made a phone call to the police saying there was someone in her house, and when the police got there, she was knocked unconscious, and unable to identify her attacker. Now, during the investigation they determined she was hit across the back of the head with a trophy from the mantle on her fireplace. Later the next morning the Crime Scene Unit found the trophy hidden in the bushes, behind Mr. Crowe's garage the next morning. I am not insinuating anything at this point, but I do believe the choice will be quite clear to each and every one of you." He said and sat back down.

Sam rose from his seat, "Hello Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, Mr. Winston did state many facts but he has left out a major fact. The trophy was indeed behind Mr. Crowe's garage, but it lacked any fingerprints from Mr. Crowe, only the finger prints of Mrs. Murphy and her family. In fact there were no unaccountable fingerprints anywhere inside Mrs. Murphy's house especially none from my client. But Mr. Winston is correct about this decision being easy to make and by the end of the trial I do think you will have made the right choice." Sam stated returning behind the desk.

Gabriel wasn't paying as much attention as he probably should have been. After a while he started to tune out the awful droning of Mr. Winston's voice, and didn't understand half of what Sam was saying when was paying attention. He was put out by the lack of "I object" and "Order in the court". The testimonies seemed to drawl on and on, and it wasn't an enjoyable experience for someone who was used to being able to get up and move around when he wanted. And right now, all he wanted was for a recess to be called so he could stretch his legs.

It was another three and a half hours before the Judge decided they needed a recess and Gabriel all but jumped out of his seat. He successfully avoided Sam during the recess and once the day was over Gabriel exited the courthouse without so much as a nod to Sam. He knew they weren't allowed to talk about the case outside of the court room, but he wasn't sure if Sam was going to break the rules or not.

Later that night, while Gabriel was eating dinner Sam knocked on the front door, which was odd because it was easier to use the back door. "I know we aren't allowed to say anything." Sam said, "But I was wondering if you wanted a ride to the courthouse tomorrow. You know, cheaper than riding the bus." 

He stood there silently, thinking the offer over, before replying. "Don't you need to meet with whatever his name is before?" 

"The trial resumes at noon tomorrow. I can drop you off near there and meet up with him. There's plenty of time. "

Gabriel bit his lip thinking once more. "Alright. Nine thirty?" 

"Nine thirty." They shook hands and Sam left back to his apartment. 

This was the first time the trial had started later than nine o'clock and Gabriel was glad to have at least another twenty extra minutes of sleep. Once in the car with Sam, they agreed that Gabriel would be dropped off outside the Courthouse and he would find something to do for the next two hours before the trial started.

Gabriel wandered around outside. He wasn't too familiar with this part of town. Sure he had lived there for ten years, but he never really had a reason to visit the area. It was just a bunch of business buildings and sad little coffee shops. Eventually, though, he found a park and sat down on one of the benches, watching a squirrel being chased by a dog. He contemplated just staying there the whole time and missing the trial. It wasn't like his opinion would matter much. To him it was clear the man had attempted to kill his boss, and the other jurors thought pretty much the same.

An hour later Gabriel was at his spot in the jury stands and Sam was pacing around the witness, Mrs. Crowe. "So you are saying that Mr. Crowe was asleep in bed next to you that night?" 

"Yes." She said. 

Sam nodded, "And are you a light sleeper? Would you have noticed if he got up?" 

"Ever since I had my baby, I've been a much lighter sleeper, I notice every noise now." 

"And did he get up around Nine o'clock?"

"Not that I recall." She answered. 

Sam smiled at her, "Thank you. That’s all."

Mr. Winston then got up and stood in front of the defendant's wife. "Is it true, Ma'am, that you did have alcohol in your system that night?" 

She blushed. "Well, yes, I had my book club over earlier that night and we shared a bottle of wine." 

"I see, now were you hung over the next morning?" He asked. 

"I had a bit of a headache, but I wasn't that intoxicated."

"But it is entirely possible that you could have not noticed your husband leave the bed that night what with your judgment impaired."

She fidgeted with her hands. "Yes, I guess that's possible." 

"I have no further questions." He said returning behind the desk.

They blew through all of Sam's witnesses, all of his evidence being turned against him. The judge called for a twenty minute recess, and Sam stayed until everyone had left the room before sighing and putting his head in his hands. He knew he was going to lose this case, his first case. Sam was at a loss for how to save the trial, but all of his hope was lost. Sure he would still get paid, but there was no chance the firm would let him work on another case for a while.

Gabriel looked in through the doorframe watching Sam. He wanted to comfort him, but he knew he couldn't. It was bad enough watching Sam get torn apart, he just hoped maybe there was one more thing hidden up his sleeve.

Sam winged all of the questions he had for Mr. Winston's witnesses.

The head investigator was on the witness stand. "So you found a glove matching the same glove you determined was used to hold the trophy in Mr. Crowe's garage?" Mr. Winston asked. 

"Yes. It matches and has his DNA and fingerprints inside." 

"Thank you sir." He said sitting down.

Sam stood up and stepped forward. "What brand of glove was it?"

"Blue hawk latex garden gloves."

"And could you find these at any store." Sam asked. 

"I suppose you could." The man stated.

"So, just to be clear, anyone could have bought those gloves and used them to cover their finger prints on the trophy?" 

"Anyone could have." 

"Thank you. That is it." Sam said.

The next day they were giving their closing statements. Sam wished they had a lot more time. Or a miracle would show up and allow him to lengthen the case. Of course all evidence pointed towards Mr. Crowe; why wouldn’t it? It was obvious even to Sam that he tried to kill his boss.

On the ride home, Gabriel didn’t say much to Sam. It wasn't that Gabriel didn't want to talk, he just didn’t know what to say. Sam on the other hand wanted to get his mind off of the case. He tried small talk about anything, but nothing worked, and Gabriel stayed quiet.

“Gabe, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing we can talk about.” He answered. 

Sam sighed. “Is it that obvious how badly we are losing?”

“I really don’t actually want to talk about that at the moment, but yes.” 

“Why are you so adamant on not talking about this? We are going to have to eventually.” Sam stated.

“You want to know why?” Gabriel asked. “Alright, fine. It is so obvious you are going to lose. I probably shouldn’t say this, but the whole jury thinks he’s guilty, including me. And since I know you, I feel like I have this obligation to you, that I have to say he is innocent; that I need to so you don’t feel so bad you couldn’t convince twelve people that a man didn’t attempt to kill someone when he obviously did. You aren’t a bad lawyer, you were just given an impossible case. I’m sorry, but it’s not something that I feel we need to discuss at this moment.”

Sam gripped the steering wheel tighter, before taking a deep breath. “Please don’t say he is innocent. And especially don’t do it for me. It’s just not worth it. So I sucked this time, maybe I’ll win the next one. Doesn’t matter. Just do what you think is right.” 

Gabriel looked at Sam, “I’ll just be glad when it is over.”

“Me too. Winston’s voice reminds me of nails on a chalkboard.” 

“You shoulda heard the lawyer who never showed up! His spoke through his nose and it was monotonous. I would take Winston over him any day!” Gabriel exclaimed.

“Is there some rule I haven’t been told about that you need to have an annoying voice to be a lawyer?”

“Who said you don’t have an annoying voice?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Yours isn’t much better.” 

“I highly doubt that. My voice is beautiful.” Gabriel said. 

Sam came to a stop outside of their apartments and let Gabriel out. “Don’t be cocky.” Sam called after him. 

“Someone’s gotta be.” Sam watched Gabriel go inside before starting the car up again and pulling his car around the corner. 

***   
Sam and Gabriel were talking outside the courtroom, well really Sam was reminding Gabriel of the blender he borrowed a few weeks ago that he had yet to return, when Mr. Crowe came up to them. “I just wanted to thank you for trying to help me.” He said. “I know it was a lost cause, hell, I did try to kill her, but I appreciate everything you’ve done.”

Sam smiled politely, “It’s my job, but you’re welcome.”

Mr. Crowe started to walk away then turned back, “You two are boyfriends right? I mean, I remember that moment from before the trial, and you shouldn’t let something like that go. Besides you’d be cute together.” He said before walking into the courtroom.

“What moment was that?” Gabriel asked.

Sam shrugged, “When I realized you were part of the jury. He asked if it was love at first sight or something.”

Gabriel laughed, “Well, after you cute boyfriend.” He said gesturing towards the door.

“Oh no,” Sam objected laughing a bit, “After you.”

Gabriel brought a hand up to his chest. “Awh, my boyfriend is so sweet and such a gentleman too!”

“Only sometimes.” Sam said with a wink.

Gabriel kissed Sam’s cheek and said, “Good luck.” Before continuing through the door and sitting down in juror seat number six. 

He shook his head slightly before sitting next to Mr. Crowe to go through his notes for his closing statement.

“My client was trying to enjoy her evening when she was attacked, more than likely by the man in the defendant’s chair. He threatened her life by attempting murder over a small thing like the amount on his paycheck. Who’s to say he won’t do it again with another boss, or after an argument with his wife, or even if his child misbehaves. That man over there is a criminal and I do hope you choose the right decision to put him away where he belongs.” 

“Mr. Crowe had an argument with his boss over something that is common to argue about. Is it so wrong that he wanted a little more money to support his wife and child? I think everyone has had some trouble like that in their lives. The trophy might have been left there by someone else who also had an issue with Mrs. Murphy, her ex-husband maybe, or another co-worker. This man has a child who he doesn’t want to grow up without its father. He doesn’t want to miss his child growing up.”

The jury went into the back room for twenty minutes and came back out standing in the stands again. The foreman, spoke up. “We, the jury, find Dwight Crowe, guilty on all counts.” Mr. Crowe deflated in his seat.

“I sentence you to 14 years in prison.” The judge said before standing up and heading back into the judge’s chambers. 

The bailiffs walked over to him and put him in cuffs. Sam, who honestly had no opinion, started cleaning his papers up and put everything into his briefcase. He walked over to Gabriel and handed him $15. “I gotta get back to the firm so I can’t drive you home. I figure this’ll be enough to get you back.” Gabriel nodded and handed back the ten. 

“Five is enough. Thanks.” 

With a sigh, Sam got in his car and started laughing. He laughed for a good ten minutes, realizing he was probably going crazy. After getting yelled at by his boss, he went back home and got dressed for bed, not caring that it was still 3:30. Sometimes he wished he didn’t live alone, and that maybe Jess would move in, it was times like this that he wanted someone who would cuddle up to him and tell him he wasn’t as bad at his job as he felt he was. Someone to tell him to continue on with his dream and not give up like he wanted to.

Around seven that night, Gabriel knocked on Sam’s back door hoping to return the blender and talk to him, but there was no answer. So he left the blender on the back porch and hoped that it wouldn’t rain that night because Sam didn’t need any more bad luck.


	5. Chapter 5

“Why are you trying to make me learn Russian again?” Sam asked sitting at the kitchen table in Jessica’s house.

“Because my boss said if I wanted that promotion then I need to learn Russian! It couldn’t be too much different from French right?” Jess explained. “We would get so many more business opportunities and if I get them then I could become a full time partner.”

“But why do I have to learn too? It’s not my job!” Sam whined. 

Jess rolled her eyes. “It’s good to be bilingual.”

“I already know Latin and it was a pain in the ass to learn. I don’t want to even imagine Russian.”

“I don’t want to learn it by myself! And you are my boyfriend, so you are obligated to learn with me!” She replied pursing her lips.

Sam raised his eyebrows. “I was not aware that I was going to have to learn another language to be date you.”

“Don’t be a jerk!” Jess said bumping his shoulder with her own.

Sam sighed, “Fine, fine alright, I’ll learn.” Jessica grinned and opened her laptop.

They spent the next three hours with headphones in their ears, learning the alphabet and the number system while conjugating regular verbs.

“The only thing I remember how to say is семь, but I don’t know what it means.” Sam said.

Jess grimaced, “Yeah, me neither. This is gonna take longer than I thought.”

“How important is this promotion?”

“Life or death.” She stated.

“You should probably conjugate more then.” He replied. “And while you do that, I’m going to go get us some lunch.” She waved him off and put the headphones back on repeating the words я иду.

Sam grabbed his keys off the coffee table and went outside to head off somewhere that didn’t involve anything Russian.

***

“C’mon! I want to go see the kittens!” Gabriel exclaimed.

“Will you calm down and let me finish?” Kali asked taking a sip of her drink.

“But you eat so slowly!” Gabriel whined. “It’s just a sandwich.”

“I know it’s a sandwich Captain Obvious. I’m almost done.” She replied. After five agonizing minutes Kali still wasn’t done.

“I’m gonna go to the restroom.” He excused himself from the table. He didn’t understand how she could eat so slowly. They’d been in the Subway for almost an hour, and he finished his in ten minutes, the bad thing being her sandwich was half of what his was.

Gabriel didn’t actually do anything in the restroom, he just needed to do something besides watch Kali eat. He left the bathroom and ran into Sam standing near the end of the line.

“Hey!” Gabriel said.

Sam looked up from his phone. “Oh hi.”

“We run into each other a lot.” Gabriel observed. “It’s kinda creepy.”

“Fine, I’ll never leave my house again.” Sam said.

“But I see you there too.”

“Then my bedroom, I’ll never leave my bedroom.” Sam replied. “Why are you dressed so nicely?”

“Kali’s got a party, gala thing one of her friends from work is throwing. The only reason I’m going is because they are raising money for an animal shelter and there are going to be kittens there.” Kali, who had finished, got up and joined Gabriel next to Sam.

“We’ve got to go or we’ll be late.” She said grabbing Gabriel’s wrist.

He nodded, “Bye!” He called out and allowed her to drag him out of the Subway.

***

Sam got back to Jessica’s house twenty minutes later, and he could hear her from the living room.

“Как Вас зовут?” She repeated four times.

He went into the kitchen and sat down across her. “What’s that mean?”

“What’s your name?” She stated.

“That does seem like an important thing for you to know.” He said handing her sandwich to her.

“I’m so done with all of these backwards N’s making E sounds, and weird syllables. Sammy I need a hug!” She said laying her head down on the table.

“I’m sorry.” He replied placing his hand on hers. “Maybe you should stop for today. We could just watch a movie or something.”

Jessica sighed but agreed. “As long as I get to pick the movie. I deserve it after all of the pain I’ve been through today.”

“Fine, just please no Notebook. I don’t feel like crying.”

Jess stifled a laugh, “No, I was thinking Back to the Future or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Something good.”

“Of course, I should have known.” Sam replied pushing Jess’s laptop to the side so they could eat.

After the movie, Sam had to head home, there was work in the morning after all.

“Promise me you won’t practice any more Russian until tomorrow.” Sam said.

Jess nodded, “I promise.” Sam smiled and kissed her goodbye before heading home.

 

***

Once they got to the banquet hall people instantly surrounded Kali showering her in compliments on her dress, her hair, or her overall beauty like they’d never seen her before in their entire lives. And she was just soaking it up like she needed the complements to survive; like they were her life force. Gabriel was pushed to the side as her friends whisked her away into the party.

Gabriel wandered around, there wasn’t a single person that he recognized and he wasn’t too good with strangers. He didn’t realize Kali would ditch him not even 5 minutes into the party. If he had he probably wouldn’t have come.

A man holding a tray of champagne came up to him, “May I offer you a drink?” Gabriel shook his head. There was a huge chance that if he accidentally got himself drunk he’d make a fool of himself and that was something he really didn’t want to happen, not again.

He wandered a bit more before realizing there were in fact no kittens whatsoever. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn’t care less about everything else, he just wanted the kittens and there were none. Gabriel wanted to go home now. He wanted to leave so he could cuddle his own cat and forget about the lack of kittens that he was promised.

It definitely wasn’t as easy to find Kali as it was to lose her, but eventually Gabriel found her sitting at the bar next to a man he’d never met before. She was laughing at something he said. A pang of jealousy shot through Gabriel, Kali never laughed like that with him anymore. He cleared his throat and they both looked up.

“Oh Gabriel! I thought I lost you. I couldn’t find you anywhere!” Kali said.

“You didn’t seem to be looking very hard.” He replied. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Baldur Princeton, a co-worker of Kali’s.” He said sticking his hand out to Gabriel.

Reluctantly Gabriel shook it, ”Gabriel Novak.”

“Why don’t you go mingle, talk about your art or something.” Kali suggested.

Baldur perked up, “Art? What kind of art?” He asked.

“Nothing impressive.” Gabriel said thinking of how Sam had reacted to his works. “They aren’t in any galleries or anything.”

“Ah, so you are a struggling artist. Kali you are such a saint taking him under your wing like that.” Baldur said. “I’m sure not out of pity or anything.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “I’ll have you know I am not struggling, I have a perfectly decent life, now if you’ll excuse me I think I’ll be leaving now.”

Kali was embarrassed now. Baldur was being petty, and Gabriel wasn’t doing much to stand up for himself. “We took my car honey. And I’m not ready to go.” She said pressing her lips together tightly.

“I’ll get a cab then.” Gabriel said and turned to leave.

Kali got up quickly, accidentally knocking over her empty glass onto the counter. “You are such an embarrassment!” She hissed at him.

“I don’t want to be here. So you can stay behind with Baldur and pretend I never came so you won’t be embarrassed.” He replied angrily.

“You can’t leave me here! I’ll be the laughing stock of the party.”

“Then go home with Baldur.”

***

Sam stood under the steady stream of water coming from the shower head. He never wanted to get into the shower, but once he did, he didn’t want to come out. Maybe he just secretly enjoyed the long process of shampoo, rinse, repeat. Sam didn’t use Axe or whatever manly soap manly men used to clean their bodies. No, he used Herbal Essences Hydralicious mandarin scented shampoo. In his defense, it made his hair nice and soft.

After willing himself out of the shower, Sam heard a knock at the door and groaned. It was 9:30 at night and if it wasn’t Jess at the door, then he seriously thought he might hit them. With a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair still dripping he went to answer the door.

The second the door opened Gabriel spoke up. “Saaam, there were no kittens!” He whined. Sam stared at him with a vacant look. “Oh, you’re wet. Hmm, well, I see this was a bad time, so I think maybe I should just uh. Yeah, bye.”

Sam blinked. “No, no, let me get dressed and then you can complain to be about your kittens.” He said before shutting the door on Gabriel. Gabriel pursed his lips and ran a hand through his hair trying to decide if Sam had closed the door to make him leave or if he was actually coming back.

He was about to leave when the door opened by Sam in just some lounge pants. “So what were you telling me?’

‘Uh, well there were no kittens, and I might have just broken up with Kali, but I’m not sure what exactly happened. I’m sorry I’m telling you this but I have no one else to tell and I needed to tell someone.”Gabriel said in one breath.

“You broke up with her because there were no kittens?” 

“Would you forget the kittens? I don’t know what happened. All I know is that there is some other guy with a terrible name who is taking her home.”

“I’m not sure what to tell you.” Sam admitted.

Gabriel sighed. “It’s alright, I’m just gonna go home and wallow in my confusion. Thanks though.”

Sam shrugged and shut the door behind Gabriel. Right before he went to bed his phone buzzed.

Jess-

Спокойной ночи! Я люблю́ тебя́! <3

Sam-

What does that mean?

Jess-

Good night. I love you! <3

Sam-

Я люблю́ тебя́ too.

***

At home Gabriel changed from his uncomfortable fancy clothes and sat on his couch, his cat in his lap. They fell asleep together cuddled up underneath a fuzzy blanket. When he woke up Copernicus was still right next to Gabriel. “I’m glad you aren’t embarrassed of me. You’re cool.” he whispered nuzzling his face in her fur.

He was glad there was work that day. It would be something to get his mind off of the previous night. Quickly he got ready, so he wouldn’t be late again, and left before 8:15.

When he got to the Gallery, Kali was sitting on the bench outside.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make a scene last night.”

“But you did. And what about that other guy?”

“I didn’t go home with him. I left soon after you did. I’m sorry.”

Gabriel sighed. “I don’t know right now. I’m sure not all of it was your fault, but I don’t enjoy getting made fun of by strangers. And you didn’t even try to stand up for me.”

“I didn’t know what to do last night. I’ve never seen Baldur act like that. I was speechless.” Gabriel didn’t respond. “I took the day off. I was wondering if you could give me tour, I’ve never been inside.”

“Yeah, okay. I can do that.” She wasn’t completely forgiven, but at least she was trying.


	6. Christmas

Normal apartment landlords wouldn’t throw a Christmas party for the residents of his or her three buildings, but of course Sam and Gabriel’s landlady wasn’t normal. Every year she would throw a party and invite all the residents. As a Christmas present anyone who showed up to the party would get 10% off of their next rent. Not everyone showed up, but this year Sam and Gabriel were definitely going.   
Sam tried to not be the first one there, again, for the second year in a row. He arrived five minutes late, and he still managed to be the first one there.   
“Sam Winchester! I’m glad you made it!” Angela, the landlady, exclaimed. He smiled awkwardly and handed her a plate of cookies he made. “Thank you! You are so sweet.”  
“It was the least I could do considering the trouble you went to throwing this party.” He smiled.  
Gradually more people arrived, but no more than 20 people arrived. When it was considered fashionably late, Gabriel showed up. He hadn’t been sure what to bring, so he ended up buying a box of candy canes. He considered not actually buying anything, but that seemed rude. And Gabriel wasn’t rude.  
Angela didn’t answer the door when he knocked, but it was unlocked and he let himself inside. He quickly realized he didn’t actually know half the people there, and the ones he did recognize he never said more than a good morning to. At least Sam was there to keep him some company because it seemed like Sam was as uncomfortable as Gabriel felt.   
“Merry Christmas.” He said walking over to Sam.   
Sam looked up and sighed in relief, “Thank God! I was about to go crazy if I had to make more small talk about the weather.”  
“Well, it is unseasonably warm and dry.” Gabriel laughed. “So is this party great or what?”  
“It’s very festive.” Sam said looking around the room. Angela had cut out paper snowflakes and put up large pictures of Santa and different sized snowmen. The room was dim except for the lights she had strung up and the tree in the corner. It was festive enough for a party that no one actually wanted to be at.  
Someone from the same floor as Sam came over and handed Gabriel a cookie with too much frosting. “Don’t look now, but there’s mistletoe above your head.” She whispered heading over to another person. Gabriel looked up confused by the suddenness of her statement. Sam followed his gaze and they both cringed slightly.   
“Mistletoe…” Sam stated.   
“Yeah.” Gabriel said looking everywhere but Sam.   
“Maybe we should move.” He said slowly.  
Gabriel nodded, allowing himself to look at Sam. “Yeah, probably.” They locked eyed, unreadable expressions on both their faces. Gabriel tried to say something else, but instead bit his lip, realizing how close they actually were. Sam glanced down towards Gabriel’s mouth, subconsciously licking his lips. Gabriel didn’t know who was actually moving closer, but he wasn’t going to be the one to stop it.  
“Hey boys! Enjoying the party?” Angela asked walking up to them.   
Sam blinked hard taking a step back. “Oh, uh, it’s great Angela. E-even better than last years.” He stuttered.  
Gabriel nodded, “I wasn’t living here last year, but this was great.”   
“Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. I’m wrapping the party up in the next hour though, I have to head to Boston tomorrow.”  
“Merry Christmas.” Sam said. Angela turned away and slipped back in the crowd of twenty people. “Uhm.” Sam said taking a few steps away from the mistletoe. “This isn’t, uh. It’s not. Hmm.”   
“Nothing happened.” Gabriel said. “Nothing was going to happen.”  
“You’re totally right. We were just standing here. A conversation, that’s all.”   
Gabriel laughed. “You are such a dork.” Sam smiled sheepishly.   
“Why is mistletoe so intimidating?” He asked.   
“Dunno.” Gabriel shrugged, “It’s just a plant.”   
“Yeah, just a dead plant.”   
“Are you done here?” Gabriel asked. “It’s kinda boring.”   
Sam nodded, “I was done thirty minutes ago.”   
Sam spent the rest of the night replaying the almost kiss in his mind. He wasn’t sure if he actually would have gone through with it or if he’d have stopped himself. Every few minutes Jess’s face would flash in his mind and he felt guilty. Sam didn’t know anymore, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it, and it was driving him mad. Fortunately, it didn’t change anything between him and Gabriel, and he was more than grateful. At least he got his 10% off his rent.


	7. Chapter 6

Sam would wake up at 4 o’clock every morning. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to. And every morning at 4:15 he would be outside running. It didn’t matter if it was snowing or raining, he adjusted accordingly, adding gloves or a hat. He would run down to the park, which was a mile and a half away, jog for another mile around the path and come home. Usually it would take him half an hour to finish, sometimes longer depending on the day. His brother, Dean, never understood why Sam would run 5 miles every morning, or why he would even want to get up at 4, but had done it every day since he was fifteen.  
To be honest, Sam didn’t really know why he would get up that early either. He figured it was probably because it was something that he chose to be constant in his life, or he liked being alone so he could think because god knows he wasn’t able to do that at work. Maybe it was both. But either way, he ran without so much as a thought as to why he shouldn’t run.  
It just so happened that this morning he couldn’t sleep. Something woke Sam up, nothing he could put his finger on, but he wasn’t tired anymore. He checked his alarm clock and cringed. It was three in the morning, three twenty-four to be exact, but who’s counting? Sam hadn’t willingly been up at three since he had to take an early flight to Stanford for college, and even then he was barely lucid at the time. Since there was no way he was going to fall back asleep before his alarm went off he decided he might as well go for his run thirty minutes early.  
He changed into something more suitable for running, it probably wasn’t acceptable to be outside running in just a pair of boxers, and he really didn’t want to pay a fine for some law saying he needed pants. He laughed at the thought of having to call Jess to have her pick him up from the police station in his underwear. Just her face alone would be priceless. But he wouldn’t do that. He didn’t need a record down at the station.  
He grabbed his keys and cell phone and left the apartment complex. He thought it was quiet at 4:30, but that was nothing compared to 3:45. It was silent, the only sound was his feet slapping against the pavement and the breaths escaping his lungs. The whole city was asleep and Sam was enjoying every moment of it. It had been quite a long time since he ran with a smile plastered onto his face, usually it was too early to do much more than scowl as he ran, but this time it was peaceful and serene. It was something he could get used to, but he knew he wouldn’t. He would never be able to will himself out of bed before four ever again.  
Today, he decided to take a different route home from the park. Instead of taking the left path, he took the right one. Sam hadn’t taken this path ever. He had lived in the area five years and not once had he taken the right path. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take it, he just never had the time to go explore that direction. He came to a dead end, and the only ways out were to go back the way he came, or to go through the alley to his left. Since he was feeling adventurous he decided to go through the alley.  
Sam wrinkled his nose in disgust when the smell of garbage hit his face. Dumpsters overflowing in a dark alley, how cliché. Something didn’t seem right to Sam, not like there was a dead person’s leg sticking out of the dumpster or anything, it was more why was there a dumpster behind the building when there was barely enough room to pass a car through there let alone a huge garbage truck? He figured that was probably why it was overflowing.  
He squeezed himself though the small gap between the wall and the dumpster, and after putting his hand in some foreign substance, he decided it really hadn’t been a good idea to go that way. It was brighter on this side of the dumpster though, and he could clearly see the things he might have stepped in or bumped into otherwise.  
A small mass jumped up from the edge of the wall and attacked Sam’s feet. He tripped over the creature and hit the ground with a gasp. The animal hopped into Sam’s lap and tugged on the end of his shirt. “Oh, it’s just a puppy.” He sighed. Sticking his hand out, he let the dog sniff it. There wasn’t a collar on the puppy, but it seemed harmless and alone. “Hey buddy, why don’t you come home with me and we can get you cleaned up?” The puppy didn’t run away when Sam bent down to pick it up and he took that as a good sign.  
As soon as he found his way back home, Sam placed the puppy in his bathroom, and quickly realized his lack of bathtub. “Well, I guess we are both getting a bath then.” He said picking up the puppy and turning on the water. Surprisingly the dog didn’t mind the water, in fact he enjoyed it; hopping around happily under the spray.  
After changing his clothes and drying off the puppy, Sam called Jess. “So how do you feel about puppies?” he asked.  
“You got one didn’t you?” She asked.  
“Not exactly…”  
“Then what exactly did you do?” She asked.  
“I just found it! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with him now! D’you want a dog?”  
He heard Jess sigh through the phone, “No, I don’t have room for a dog, and neither do you. You know that.”  
“But he’s cute.” Sam pouted.  
“Sam, you don’t need it.”  
“I don’t care. I’m gonna keep him.”  
“You’re gonna regret this.” She warned.  
“We’ll get there when we get there.”  
Now all he had to do was buy dog things and take it to the vet. He at least knew where a pet store was which was less overwhelming. He hadn’t made any split decisions like this in a long time, and it was exciting. Sam searched the house for a makeshift leash and decided that there really wasn’t anything he was willing to use and he settled for carrying the puppy. It chewed on his index finger as he balanced it on his hip, locking the front door behind him.  
Gabriel and Kali were in the parking lot, when Sam got outside with the puppy.  
“OH MY GOD! Sammy! You got a puppy?” Gabriel squealed dropping Kali’s hand and running over to Sam.  
“I guess you could say that.” Gabriel grabbed the puppy from Sam’s arms, scratching behind its ears and rubbing its belly.  
“What’d you name him?”  
Sam cringed, “I, I don’t actually have a name for him.  
“Uhm, Socks, his name is Socks.”  
Gabriel raised his eyebrows, “Socks? Really?”  
“You know, his feet are white and the rest of his body isn’t.” Sam shrugged.  
“That’s cute.”  
Socks wiggled around in Gabriel’s arms, nipping at his fingers and trying to lick his face. It was adorable to watch. Of course Sam wouldn’t admit that, but hey it’s the thought that counts.  
Unlike Sam and Gabriel, Kali wasn’t exactly enjoying the puppy. She stood there tapping her foot against the pavement impatiently, sighing every once in a while. With each sigh a pang of annoyance ran through Gabriel. He was so tired of hearing her do that it wasn’t even funny.  
“Well, I, uh, I’ve gotta go. So…” Sam said reaching for Socks.  
With a small pout Gabriel gave the dog back, and watched Sam leave with Socks.  
“I’m pretty sure you like that dog more than you like me.” Kali said. He rolled his eyes *probably? There was no doubt.*  
Over the next few days Sam still had work and had to leave Socks at home by himself. And he howled. He would howl for hours on end when he was alone and it was driving Gabriel mad. It wasn’t a quite howling either, It was like a wolf had taken up living in Sam’s apartment. Gabriel didn’t understand how a dog that little could produce a sound that loud. But whatever magic it was needed to stop before Gabriel went completely crazy.  
“Can you please make your dog be quiet?” Gabriel asked.  
Sam looked at Gabriel like he’d gone psycho, “He is quite.”  
“No! During the day! He is literally the loudest animal I have ever met and you need to make him be quiet.”  
“I’ve never heard it.” Sam replied skeptically.  
“Then come over to my house for a few minutes. He does it and I’ll prove it.” Gabriel said.  
Sam took the long way, going down three flights of stairs, out the building, into the other, and back up three flights of stairs. He knocked on Gabriel’s door and was answered with “See, you haven’t been out of the house for three minutes and he’s already howling his head off.”  
Sam stood there in disbelief, “He does that every day?”  
“Yes, and it is the most aggravating noise I’ve ever met!”  
Sam smiled sheepishly, “Sorry.” He said. “I’ll deal with it, somehow.”  
Of course Sam didn’t know how he was supposed to deal with it. He hadn’t had a dog since he was a teenager, and that one didn’t bark all that much. And after looking it up on the internet, he decided maybe he needed to get Socks some more toys, unlike the five thousand littering the floor of the apartment. And after acquiring three more that Socks himself had chosen, Sam hoped it would keep him quiet while he was gone.  
“It’s not working!” Gabriel whined to Sam. “He keeps howling and I’m about to buy earplugs.”  
“Well I’m sorry I don’t know how to fix it.” Sam snapped.  
“Borrow my cat then.”  
Sam cocked his head. “What?”  
“Maybe Socks is lonely. Borrow Copernicus and maybe it’ll help.” Gabriel stated.  
“O-okay.”  
“It’s not like Copernicus doesn’t try to get into your place anyway. It’s a win for the cat and a win for me!”  
This was the last thing Sam was going to try before just letting Socks whine the heck out of the building. If this didn’t work Gabriel was going to have to suck it up or leave. Although Sam didn’t want him to go, he didn’t see himself getting rid of Socks. This apartment was Socks’ apartment now, without all of the rent paying and utilities bills.  
The next morning Gabriel knocked on Sam’s back door at seven with Copernicus in his hands.  
“Do I have to pay you for your cat services?” Sam asked.  
Gabriel shook his head. “No, the quiet will be payment enough.”  
“If it works.”  
Sam took Copernicus inside and placed her on the couch. Socks came bounding in the room and sniffed playfully at the cat. To be honest they probably should have let Socks meet Copernicus before this date, but neither had thought much of it. And Sam didn’t have to leave until eight. If nothing bad happened by then, they probably wouldn’t harm each other during the eight hours Sam would be gone.  
Socks usually was asleep on the couch when Sam left. He was the definition of lazy, despite the sudden bursts of energy he would get when the word walk or treat was mentioned. It was hard to believe only a month before he had been sleeping in an alley Sam had happened to stumble into.  
When Sam got home he found Copernicus sleeping on his bed and Socks in the kitchen. It didn’t seem like a good sign, but who knew. He picked up the sleeping cat and took her back over to Gabriel’s place.  
“Oh my potatoes! I could kiss your dog! Or maybe I should kiss my cat!” He exclaimed grabbing Copernicus and covering her face in little kisses.  
“So it was quiet?” Sam asked.  
“It was the most quiet it’s been since you got him! Thank Jesus! Hallelujah!” he shouted a grin covering his face.  
Sam licked his lips, “Well, I’m gonna head back. Do I get to borrow your cat again tomorrow?”  
“Every single fucking day!” Gabriel said closing his back door. Sam was almost on his own back porch when he heard, “Copernicus, I’m a genius!” Sam grinned to himself and shut his own back door.


	8. Chapter 7

“Kali calm down!” Gabriel shouted.  
Kali narrowed her eyes, “You can’t tell me to calm down. Especially after lying to me!”  
“I never lied!” he said a little quieter.   
“No, you just forgot to tell me!” She yelled.  
“I didn’t know then. Things happen, people change!”  
“Did you ever once think of me? I thought you were the one! God was I stupid.”  
Gabriel swallowed hard, “I was thinking about you. I don’t love you like you want me to. I’m doing this to make you happy!”  
“Well this isn’t making me happy.” She snapped.  
Gabriel’s mouth dropped open, “What about that guy you kept going out with. Shouldn’t I be upset about that?”  
“Who, Baldur? At least he takes me out after work. What did you ever do?”  
“I did everything for you!”  
“Don’t turn this against me! You are the reason I went out with him! You are a disgusting heartless, bastard!”  
“Excuse you?” he snapped.   
Kali sneered at him, “I can’t deal with you right now!” She yelled and stormed out of his apartment leaving the door open behind her. 

Gabriel closed the door, and sank to the floor, his head in his hands. That wasn’t how he wanted that to go. He thought Kali of all people would understand. Of course they were broken up now, and that’s what he wanted all along.

They were loud, really loud. Sam could hear them yelling from his bedroom, word for word causing Socks to bark at the walls. He wanted to comfort Gabriel the second he heard Kali start yelling. His kind nature he supposed, because he honestly didn’t think Gabriel could actually do something as bad as what Kali made it seem. Although he didn’t have a clue what his neighbor had done. He could have killed a man for all Sam knew, but he just wanted to fix the small broken man. 

Sam hopped the railing between their balconies and opened Gabriel’s unlocked backdoor. He went straight to Gabriel and pulled him into a hug. Gabriel jumped and tensed up when he realized it was Sam.   
“Oh, hey Sammich, what are you doing here?” Gabriel asked frantically trying to wipe away the tears streaming down his face.  
Sam raised his eyebrows at the nickname but let it slide. “I heard it all, well most of it. I don’t actually know what you did, but I do know you shouldn’t be alone when you are sad.” Gabriel sat there quiet, his head resting on Sam’s shoulder.   
“You don’t have to tell me,” Sam said after a while, “but you didn’t kill someone or like rob a bank for her, right?” Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “What?” Sam asked. “I’m not going to comfort a felon!” he said seriously.  
“No, nothing illegal. Just a break up.”

They were quiet again until Gabriel spoke up. “I really thought she’d be okay with it. I wanted to break up; I wanted her to be happy, she wasn’t happy with me. I always put her first and the one time I think of myself it’s wrong. I just couldn’t anymore, I, I thought, I’m such an idiot.” He said breaking down again.   
“Shh, Gabe, it’s alright.” Sam said pulling Gabriel closer to him. “You heard her, she thought you were the one. It’s not gonna hurt any less even if she was okay with it. Besides you said she cheated. You aren’t the one to blame in this situation. She is.” 

Although he had met Kali, he had never actually said two words to her. But if he saw her again, he was sure he would have a few choice words to say. Things she’d probably smack him for, but it was a risk he would be willing to take. She was too selfish to realize that he chose her and not somebody else. He should have chosen someone else. 

Gabriel sat up quickly, startling Sam. “You need to leave.” He stated getting up.   
Sam looked at him quizzically, “What?”  
“You need to leave. Get out.” He grabbed Sam’s wrist and pulled him off the floor. “Shoo, vamoose, leave, buh-bye!” He ushered Sam out of his apartment.   
“What the hell is happening?” Sam asked, planting his feet in one spot.  
“You were wrong.” Gabriel said, “I need to be alone. None of my life is your business.”  
“It’s been my business since you decided you wanted to spout all of your problems at me.”   
“Yeah, maybe I did that before, but not this time. This time you let yourself into my house, and now I’m telling you to leave.”  
“You already told me what happened. Break-ups are big deals, I understand. I think you are just overreacting.” Sam said still not moving.   
“No, you don’t understand. Break-ups aren’t a big deal. They don’t matter at all. It’s not like the world is ending because I don’t get to fuck her anymore. She didn’t love me so it doesn’t matter. Obviously you haven’t experienced anything life changing. I have, and it isn’t fun. You can’t understand because you live this happy life with your girlfriend, your brother and your dad.”  
“I wasn’t good enough for my dad. I was the family screw up. Why do you think I left them and came here?”  
“Boo hoo, Daddy was tough. You still talk to him; still visit him on Christmas; call him on his birthday. You still have all of them. You don’t realize how hard it actually is to leave your family; to not speak to them for years, not even a text. This? This break-up is nothing. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about it. Now I suggest you leave before I accidentally tell you the rest of my life story.” Gabriel snapped.  
Sam didn’t know how to respond. He grimaced and left the apartment. 

Gabriel ran a hand through his hair, “God Dammit.” He said. He hadn’t meant to say any of it. Sam was right, he did overreact. He just wanted to be alone. Why couldn’t Sam have just left? Or at least never come? Gabriel’s head ached.   
@@@@@  
Sam showed up at Jessica’s house. Not because he was upset and needed comforting, but because he had left his house through the back door and his front door was locked leaving Socks by himself. He would have tried to get back in through Gabriel’s place but he highly doubted that was an option.

“You aren’t busy are you?” Sam asked once Jess opened the door.   
“Well, actually, I was on the way out.” She said  
“Oh, I was gonna call but my phone is in my apartment and well that’s complicated.”   
“You locked yourself out again?” She smirked.   
“Something like that.” Sam shrugged. “I was wondering if you still had that spare key I gave you.”  
Jessica scrunched her face up in thought, “I might, but if it’s not in my purse then I don’t know where it is.” Sam followed Jess inside and waited while she dug in her purse. “It’s not in here.” She said finally. “But you’re welcome to stay here if you can’t get inside.”  
Sam shook his head. “No that’s alright, I’ll just ask my landlord or something. Thanks anyway.”   
“Sorry I was no help. I’ll try to find your key though.” 

After stalling a bit more around town, Sam went back to his apartment building to ask his landlord for a spare key. With a sigh he knocked on the door to the office. “Come in.” Angela answered.  
“Hello, uh, I was wondering if you could let me into my apartment.”   
She searched around her desk, opening drawers and moving papers around before producing a ring of keys. “Yeah, you lead the way.”   
They climbed the two flights of stairs to the third floor. “The room with the package in front of it?” she asked. Sam nodded picking up the small box so it didn’t get stepped on. The landlady twisted the doorknob and the door opened right up. “Honey, it wasn’t locked.”  
Sam’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Really? But I tried to open it earlier.”   
The woman shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe you tried to open the wrong door.”   
“Well, thanks anyway,”   
“No problem. Just remember, you live in apartment 53.” She chuckled and went back down the stairs.

Sam passed the passed the box between his hands. He didn’t remember ordering anything, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t. After finding a box knife, he cut it open and found a canvas. It had small airbrushed flowers, and calligraphy- Sorry I was an asshole… You are an angel sent from heaven. Everything had a thick coating of glitter. Sam smiled at the apology, but didn’t go to Gabriel’s backdoor. He had a long night ahead of him.


	9. Super Bowl

Gabriel never really understood football. He was more of a under the bleachers kinda guy in high school and would rather be eating rocks than watch any sport on television. But for some reason he felt the calling of the Super Bowl. Maybe it was the commercials or the thought of watching Idina Menzel sing the national anthem, he really did enjoy watching clips of her on Broadway. Either way, somehow he found himself on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in his lap. 

There was something strangely satisfying about watching grown men trip and tackle each other just because of a ball. But hey, if that’s how they chose to spend their February first, then who was he to judge? He soon found himself yelling at the television when someone didn’t pass the ball when they clearly should have. “Get rid of the fucking ball!” 

And the next thing he knew, tears were rolling down his face. That goddamn Budweiser commercial! With the horses and the puppy. The skittles commercial before had been awkward, but he didn’t expect to have his heartstrings played with by a stupid beer commercial.

He made it to about halfway through the second quarter before he realized he didn’t actually know who was playing. Sure he’d heard the words Seattle and New England passed back and forth between the announcers, but it never clicked in his mind who was tackling whom. If he had been paying more attention he might have thought it was Katy Perry who was playing and not singing the halftime show. 

By the halftime show, there was popcorn everywhere and Copernicus was hiding underneath the couch chewing on stray kernels. Gabriel’s first thought of the giant metal looking puppet was ‘what the fuck’ and he was having doubts, until he saw the sharks. Someone auditioned to be the sharks, and suddenly he was upset that he didn’t know about the auditions. He would have made an amazing shark. 

Although there was something the Pepsi halftime show was missing. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he thought it might have had something to do with a guy named Max. He pushed the thought off and continued watching. 

Gabriel made it to seven fifty before he couldn’t do it anymore. He was done with the brutal, sad commercials. He couldn’t stand looking at guys do the same exact thing on different sides of the field repeatedly. It was all too much. 

He grabbed the remote and shut the television off and glanced out his backdoor only to find Sam yelling at his own television. Smiling to himself Gabriel grabbed his sketchbook and tried not to look stalkerish as he drew the freak in the apartment next to him. He’d never be able to understand what was so appealing about football, but he could get behind the dork in the other room who was far too into the game than he probably should have been.


	10. Chapter 8

Sam was half asleep on his couch one Saturday afternoon, cuddling with Socks, when his cellphone started ringing. He looked at it a moment before picking it up and answering. It was a short phone call, and Sam hardly understood what was being said. They were halfway through the conversation when he realized it was Dean on the other end of the line.   
“Anyway, I’m on the road with one of my friends and we’re gonna stop by your place before heading back.”   
“Oh, yeah, alright.” Sam agreed.  
“I gotta go, Cas’s got a thing about me driving and talking on the phone.”  
Dean hung up and suddenly Sam was awake and very aware of how messy his apartment really was. There were plates on the coffee table, sweaters and coats strewn across the chairs, books in stacks on the floor, and countless dog toys that littered the floor. Not to mention the random crap that didn’t have places to go. He sighed mentally preparing himself for cleaning like he’d never done before.   
Sam didn’t get to bed until three o’clock in the morning. He smelled like cleaning products and hoped that Dean wouldn’t open the closet next to the bathroom or he would get buried. Hours were spent pondering how he was going to keep good company, he’d never met the mysterious Cas guy, and didn’t exactly want to make a fool of himself.   
He didn’t wake up until Dean called and said they would be there in 20 minutes. Sam shot out of bed and went straight to the shower. It took longer than expected and his hair was still a bit wet when he answered the door.  
“Hey Sammy!” Dean said pulling Sam into a hug, “What’s up man?”  
“S’good to see you.”   
Another guy who Sam assumed was Cas stuck his hand out, “I’m Castiel.” He stated.   
“Sam,” he shook Castiel’s outstretched hand. “So are you guys just gonna stand there, because I didn’t clean for eight hours for nothing. Careful of the dog, he’s not a biter, but he jumps.” Socks hopped around sniffing Dean and Castiel’s feet as they entered.  
Castiel tripped and fell into Dean, “Whoa, easy tiger.” He helped him back upright, laughing at the panicked look that flashed across Castiel’s face.   
“So how’d you two meet? Or am I stupid and just not remember you?” Sam asked sitting on the couch.   
“Nah, we met when I fixed his car.”   
Castiel raised an eyebrow, “You mean after you rear ended me in a parking lot?”   
Dean blushed, “Yeah.” He muttered looking away. “So, that’s a cool painting.”   
Sam looked over at the picture Gabriel had given him. “My neighbor made it.” Then it got awkward, Dean’s face still flushed, Castiel sitting there with no emotion whatsoever. “Uh, do you want something to drink? Beer? Water?”  
Castiel shook his head, but Dean took a beer. The rest of the conversation was full of awkward banter, with Dean laughing a little bit too hard at Castiel’s jokes, which weren’t all that funny in the first place.   
“Can I use your restroom?” Castiel asked.   
“Yeah, uh, the first door on your left.” Sam replied.

All Castiel had to do was wash his hands, but his eyes wandered to the picture hanging on the wall across from the mirror. “I’m sorry I was an asshole… you are an angel sent from heaven.” He’d seen that calligraphy before, or at least some very similar to that, but it couldn’t have been who he thought it was. He was long gone. Castiel sighed as he dried his hands.

When he came back out he noticed the cat sitting on the counter in the kitchen. He picked it up and took it into the living room with him, “What’s its name?”  
Sam raised his head, “Oh, that’s Copernicus, I forgot to give her back I guess. She’s my neighbor’s cat. He’ll probably be over later to take her back, so don’t worry if there’s a guy on my porch.” 

“Where’d you get the picture in your bathroom?” Castiel asked petting the cat.  
“My neighbor.” Sam answered.  
“My God,” Dean exclaimed, “Can you do anything without your neighbor?”  
Sam scrunched his nose, “Yeah.”   
“Really? Because you’ve mentioned him like eight times in the last hour.” Sam blushed bright. “Don’t you have other friends?”   
“I have him and Jess here. I don’t get out much.” Sam admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t still have friends in other states.”   
Dean raised his eyebrows, and sat back against the couch, stealing Copernicus from Castiel’s lap. A cry of protest escaped Castiel’s throat, but the cat had accepted its fate, and Cas let it be. “Sure.”   
Sam pursed his lips. 

@@@@

Around 2:30 Gabriel slammed a paper against Sam’s back door knocking rapidly. Sam got up from the couch and opened it, “What’s the all the commotion for?”   
“This, I’m in this!”   
Sam took the paper, “an art show?”  
“YEah!” he exclaimed, “and you are coming because I’m not going by myself and… you’ve got company… I’ll just...” then he paused and took a step into the apartment, “Castiel?”  
Castiel gasped and hopped off the couch. “Gabriel?” he exclaimed, a grin forming on his face as he got up from the couch and enveloped his older brother in a hug.   
Sam leaned over to Dean and whispered, “What’s going on?” Dean shrugged confused himself. 

Castiel let go of his brother and took a step back, “Where in the hell have you been?” he yelled.   
“Everywhere and nowhere.” Gabriel said looking at the floor.   
“That means shit! You disappeared after college! You could have at least called or heck I’d have taken a letter! Something to tell me you were still alive!” Castiel yelled. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening, sure he’d hoped when he saw the picture, but Castiel hoped every time he saw a short guy with blond hair.  
“I don’t know what happened. I mean, I thought about calling, many times, but… I… didn’t.” Gabriel answered slowly realizing there was no way out of the hole he was digging.  
“Damn right you didn’t.” he clenched and unclenched his fists. “I’m not having this fight right now.” Castiel sat back down on the couch and stole the cat from Dean this time. With one last glance back, Gabriel exited the back door, leaving his cat in his little brother’s lap. 

“So.” Sam started. “What was that?”   
“He’s the neighbor you speak so highly of?” Castiel asked pointing towards the back door. Sam nodded, “Gabriel’s my brother, and like I said, I haven’t heard from him in a long time.” He paused for a second, counting on his fingers. “Eight, nine years. And, I’m guessing this is his cat that I’m holding.” Castiel said looking at Copernicus.  
“You let your long lost brother leave out the back door? Cas, are you high?” Dean asked.   
Castiel furrowed his eyebrows, “No.”   
“Then go talk to him, Birdbrain.”   
“My brain is not the size of a bird’s, shut up!” Castiel huffed, standing up. “I don’t even know where he went!”   
“Literally out the back door.” Sam stated.   
Hesitantly Castiel got up and paused standing in front of the backdoor. “There’s a railing in the way, looks like I can’t.” He shrugged.   
Sam gave him an unamused look, “Gabriel get your ass out here.” He yelled.  
“No, you’re just gonna yell at me.” He called back.   
“Please?”  
Terrified that things were going to go worse than they already were, Gabriel appeared in the back door. “Yes?”   
Sam went back in the house leaving Castiel and Gabriel to talk.   
“Look, I’m sorry.” Gabriel started.   
“That’s not gonna fix years.”   
Gabriel opened his mouth then closed it again, “I don’t know what you want me to do. I can’t go back in time.”  
“Just tell me why.”   
“I don’t know.”   
Castiel narrowed his eyes. “That’s not good enough.”   
“I was done at home. There was no reason to go back.”   
“What about family? Were you done with us? Michael, Anna, Luce, me?”  
“No! Never!”   
“It sure felt like it.”   
Gabriel took a deep breath, “Your guilt trip is working; you can tone it down a bit.”   
“Mom and Dad miss you. You should call.”  
“To get yelled at? I waited too long!”  
“Too long is their death bed. Heaven forbid your actions get consequences.”   
“My actions have no reason to be reprimanded. I am a legal adult, and can make my own decisions.”   
“You are a coward.”   
Gabriel clenched his jaw, “You’re not being fair.”   
“I’m not trying to be fair.”  
“I haven’t had the best luck since I left. I’ve been so lost, and when I find something familiar it throws me out too.”  
Castiel softened, “Please, just call once, for me.” Gabriel nodded. “Thank you.”

@@@@

“You’re coming back for Christmas right?” Sam asked Dean.  
“Of course. Me, Dad, whoever else wants to come.” Dean hugged Sam goodbye.   
Castiel had already said his goodbyes to Gabriel and forced him to promise he’d come visit sooner rather than later. They were still a little rocky, but it was better than the nothing they’d had before.   
“It was nice to meet you.” Castiel said resting his hand on Sam’s shoulder.”  
“You too.”   
“Keep my brother in check.”   
“Only if you’ll do the same.” He replied with a knowing smile. Castiel blushed and slipped out the front door. 

Sam locked the door behind them and returned to his living room to find Gabriel on his couch. “Our brothers are so fucking.” Sam stated.  
Gabriel cringed. “Ew.”  
“I know right.” Sam shuddered. 

“It seems that Winchesters have a knack of finding Novaks.”   
“It’s talent.” Sam shrugged.   
“You keep believing that.” Gabriel grinned. “I’ll take my cat now.”


	11. Chapter 9

He was unusually happy that morning. Okay, it wasn’t unusual, somehow Sam had managed to weasel his way into a day off from the wretched firm, and he was determined to spend that day with his girlfriend.

They hadn’t been spending much time together lately, mostly because of work, but also because the days they did have off were spent doing the things they put off the rest of the week. He was starting to feel guilty for not even so much as texting her. But she could text him first if she wanted to. He felt a bit conflicted.

Sam had the radio playing as he was pouring his cereal, singing along with the song, when his phone buzzed on the counter.

Gabe-  
What are you doing?

Sam-  
Eating

Gabe-  
Yes… what else?

Sam-  
Singing…

Gabe-  
Good! Now what should you not be doing?

Sam-  
Singing…

Gabe-  
Ding, Ding, Ding!

Sam-  
You’re mean

Gabe-  
You sound like a dying walrus.

Sam-  
Thanks.

Gabe-  
You love it.

Sam-  
Well….

‘Well, he’s not wrong,’ Sam thought as he placed the phone back on the counter. Gabriel’s bluntness was something to be treasured, at least to Sam it was. He, personally, always took people’s feelings into account, but not Gabriel, and that was something Sam admired.

He turned the radio up louder and kept singing along to the countryish sounding song the radio announcer had said was called Honey, I’m Good by Andy Grammer. He thought it wasn’t actually all that bad considering he was only singing it to annoy the piss out of Gabriel.

“Copernicus, go scratch his vocal cords out.” Gabriel said pointing towards the back door. “Your ears are more sensitive. Don’t you care?” Copernicus looked up at Gabriel then continued on her way to his bedroom. “Thank you, thank you so much.” He called after her.

 

Sam shut his mouth once the song was over, and could hear Gabriel’s loud “THANK YOU JESUS!” Laughing to himself, he finished his breakfast and took Socks out for a walk.  
He was greeted by the woman in the apartment directly beneath him, who always seemed to be waiting by the door to say hello to him. He didn’t even know her name, and they’d never had a real   
conversation before, but she had an infatuation with him. Who didn’t though?

Socks barked and tugged at his leash dragging Sam out of the apartments and down the path towards the park they always took. Despite the fact that it was a Wednesday afternoon, Sam figured there   
would be more people outside than there were. It didn’t bother him any, he wasn’t the friendly, talkative, walking type anyway.

They rounded the corner into the dog park and Sam unhooked Socks’s leash to let him run free. They came to this park often and Socks had made some dog friends with a Corgi, a Bull Terrier, and a Whippet. If Sam knew the people better, then maybe they could both have friends, but until then there probably wouldn’t be any puppy play dates outside of the park. 

An hour later they were back at home, and Sam was about to leave for Jessica’s house. He didn’t think there was anything that could ruin his good mood. Not even the traffic that was threatening to slow the five minute drive into fifteen. 

“We need to talk.” Jess said once she opened the door. Well, that could ruin his good mood.

“What’s wrong?” She pulled Sam into the house by his wrist.

“It’s work.” She started.

“If you have to go in, we can do this another day.”

“It’s not that. Don’t interrupt, I’ve gotta tell you in one go or I won’t at all.” He shut his mouth and nodded for her to continue. “So work made me learn Russian, я есть, что вниз, and they were impressed I was so fluent so quickly, and I guess some meeting I wasn’t invited to happened and now they’ve decided they want me out there in Russia. It’s not a business trip, I’ll be there five months at the least.”

“And you agreed?”

She nodded, “This is going to be so good for my career, but I don’t want to leave you.”

Sam stood there silently, “Well, don’t let me be the reason you are stuck in a dead end job. You should go for it.” He said dejectedly. “Do you think we could still be together?”

She gave him a pained look, “We could try, I mean, if you want to, we definitely could.” Sam bit his lip, it sure didn’t sound like Jess cared all that much.

“I feel like you don’t want to try.”

“I love you.”

“But…”

“But, we barely talk when we are in the same city let alone when we are in different time zones. How can we keep our relationship intact when I’m gone?”

“I, I don’t know.” He stuttered. “When are you leaving?”

“Two weeks.”

“And I suppose you want to break up before then.”

She looked everywhere but Sam, “It might be easier.” 

He swallowed hard, “Alright. Can we spend the day as we planned before, and then break up officially later?”

Jessica smiled, “Of course. What is it that you wanted to do?”  
@@@@@

Sam knocked on Gabriel’s door. He wasn’t as upset as he thought he should have been, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be alone.

“Hey,” Gabriel said cheerfully, then paused, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, i just didn’t want to go home yet.” 

He squinted his eyes at Sam, “I don’t believe you, but you can come in anyway.” 

Sam sat on the couch quietly, Gabriel sitting next to him. 

“So, did you want to come with me to the art show? Because I never really asked and...” 

“Of course.” he said.

Gabriel stared at Sam a moment. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” 

“You know what you need?” 

“Hmm?”

“To get drunk.”

“Why?” Sam asked, “I’m completely fine.”

“You look dazed.”

“I feel numb.”

“C’mon then, let’s get you completely smashed.” He got up from the couch and went to the kitchen grabbing a bottle of vodka and two glasses.

“I can’t I’ve got work tomorrow.” Sam said shaking his head at the glass.

Gabriel pressed the tumbler against Sam’s lips, “Screw work. I’ll call in tomorrow for you. Drink it!”

He grabbed the glass from Gabriel, “Fuck it, I hate that place anyway.” He downed the drink and winced as it burned his throat. He cringed, “You would have cherry vodka” 

“Whoa, don’t diss my vodka!” Gabriel said pouring two more. 

After the bottle was gone Gabriel screwed the lid back on it. “Okay, I’ll admit it, cherry is kinda gross.” 

Sam raised his eyebrows, “I told you.”

“You should tell me why you are here.” Gabriel stated. 

“Because Jess and I are done, and I feel like I should care more.” 

“Oh.” Gabriel blinked hard, “Well, maybe it was for the best then.” 

“I dunno.” he shrugged. “She didn’t want long distance, or maybe she knew.” 

“Knew what? D’you cheat or something.” 

“No!” Sam exclaimed, “I would never do that!” 

“Then what was it?”

Sam put a finger up to his lips, “It’s a secret.”

It wasn’t like they were all that drunk. They could hold their liquor better than most, but Sam had given in to the alcohol.

“You can’t just say you have a secret and not tell me what it is. That’s not how it works.” 

“I’m not allowed to tell you.” 

“Says who?”

“Me.” He stated then laughed. 

Gabriel pouted, “Fine then. I don’t need your secret!”

“You are a bad liar. It’s not even a good secret.” 

“You are impossible!” 

Sam yawned in response.

They sat there in silence until Gabriel fell asleep and had somehow shifted so his head was resting on Sam’s lap. Sam ran his hand through Gabriel’s hair, and whispered, “It’s a good secret actually.” Then he paused, slightly more sober, “I think I didn’t care because I’d rather be with you.”


	12. Valentine's Day

Sam walked down the three flights of stairs to leave his apartment when the middle aged woman in apartment 7B opened her door and handed him a rose and said “Have a lovely day,” before going back inside. 

Sam stood there in the hallway confused. Until it hit him, it was Valentine’s Day. He figured he’d have probably remembered if he was still with Jess, but he wasn’t and there was   
no point in remembering the loneliest day of the year. It was, after all, just another day in February. 

He got outside and caught up to Gabriel, who was walking to work, in the parking lot. “Be my Valentine?” He asked presenting the rose to him. 

Gabriel gasped “Of course Sammy!” He said bringing a hand up to his chest. “But only if you’ll be mine.” 

“Absolutely,” Sam laughed. “Have fun at work.” Gabriel winked and continued on his way, his rose in his hand. 

“Ooh, where’d that come from?” Stella asked leaning over the front desk. 

“Sam.” 

Stella wiggled her eyebrows, “He so likes you!” 

“No he doesn’t.” He sat next to Stella behind the desk. “D’you really think so?” He asked fully aware he sounded like he was in middle school. 

“Duh, it’s Valentine’s Day and the only one who has a valentine in this room is you. I’m so jealous.” 

“It’s probably best not to think too much about it.” He said.

Normally the Gallery would close early on holidays, or not open at all, but for some reason, Valentine’s Day was one of their busiest times of year. And of course, Gabriel was always one of the two working that day. It was excitement they didn’t normally receive, but that didn’t mean he wanted to work it. 

“Gabriel, it’s time for another tour!” Stella sang out. “And it’s your turn!” 

He groaned and stood up, “Are there actually any people to tour?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t have told you to give them a tour if there wasn’t.” 

He walked around the corner to the place people were supposed to gather if they wanted a tour, and was met with at least 20 people, all couples. With a smile plastered on his face, Gabriel greeted them.

Gabriel couldn’t stand the couples repeated kissing, and hugging. Honestly, there shouldn’t have to be a sign somewhere to tell them to keep the PDA somewhere else. And by the time it was three thirty he was more than ready for his shift to be over. 

“Why is it that you get to leave early and I don’t?” Stella asked.

“Because I’m great.” He said signing his work log. 

She raised an eyebrow, “That’s debatable.” 

“Oh please. You’re just jealous.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Have fun making out with your boyfriend.”

Gabriel made a fast 180, “Sam is just my friend! Could you get that through your head for once?” 

“Maybe I’ll do it when it stops being true.” 

He groaned in frustration, slung his coat over his shoulder, and left the gallery. 

He couldn’t figure out why everyone wanted him to be with Sam, especially Stella, who brought it up at least once a week. And sometimes she sounded like she knew something he didn’t. Stella acted like she knew everything, but he knew she liked to get under his skin. Especially with it being Valentine’s Day, and Sam being his valentine. 

@@@@

It kept running through his mind that maybe he shouldn’t have given Gabriel the flower. The last thing he wanted was for him to take the flower in any way except jokey. Sam didn’t want Gabriel to be his rebound. Sure he liked him, a lot, but it was way too soon. Sam could smack himself for over thinking this, it was a stupid flower. But he had stressed himself out and there was no backing out of that. 

At least there was tomorrow, when all the candy would he half off, and he didn’t have to see couples everywhere. Sam probably should have just gone back home after he gave the rose away, but he had errands to do. He stopped by the pet store for more food for Socks and a woman there handed him a rose. He went to the grocery store and the person who bagged his groceries gave him a rose. And someone standing next to his parking meter gave him a rose before he got in his car. To say getting all of these roses wasn’t awkward would be a lie. This seemed too suspicious to be just a coincidence, but he highly doubted someone planned the roses. 

He passed the gallery on the way home and noticed Gabriel leaving, pulling over, he rolled down the window, “Need a ride?” 

Gabriel thought about it a minute before opening the passenger side door, “Thanks.” Then noticed the three roses. “Hey! I thought I was your valentine!” 

“You are. I don’t know why I have them.” 

“Sure you don’t.” Gabriel said slowly. 

“You can have them if you want them.” 

“Nope. They’re yours.”

Sam winced as he said the first excuse that came to mind, “They’re for you.”

Gabriel looked up surprised, “Really?” Sam nodded making sure he looked out the windshield, and not near Gabriel. “Awh, four roses? You spoil me, Sammich!” 

Sam was glad they lived only two blocks away from the gallery. Gabriel kissed Sam’s cheek, “Thanks for the ride, and the flowers.” He smiled and went inside his respective   
apartment. Sam sat in his car a few minutes longer, with a stupid grin on his face.


	13. Ping Pong

Sam was startled awake at 2:36 in the morning by loud knocking on his back door. With a groan, he rolled out of bed and trudged into his living room. 

“What the fuck do you want?” 

“Do you like ping pong?”

“I’d like it at lot better if you weren’t asking me at two in the morning.”

“Yeah, but I know where a table is.” 

Sam yawned, “Are you high?”

“No… I just put red bull in the coffee maker instead of water and drank the whole pot because I needed to finish a picture, but now I’m done. I think I can hear colors!” Gabriel said and started laughing.

“I think you are vibrating.” Sam stated.

“I think so too. Are you gonna play or not?”

Sam thought for a moment “Fine, but if something illegal happens, I’m ditching you.”

“The only thing that’s illegal is how good I am at ping pong.” Gabriel winked. 

Sam shook his head, ashamed, and smiled, “Don’t ever say that again. Lemme go put a shirt on and we’ll play.” he said disappearing into the darkness of his living room.  
Gabriel shifted from foot to foot unsteadily. Honestly, drinking the coffee probably hadn’t been the best idea, but he had the final three paintings to finish before the art fair and a month to finish them. He’d been high once before in his life, and this was almost as bad.

“Are you just gonna stand out there in 20 degree weather or come inside?” Sam asked.

“Oh, yeah.” He paused, “I didn’t even notice how cold it was.”

“You’re shivering, how did you not notice?” Sam asked pulling his shoes on.

“I’m already shaking from the caffeine.” Gabriel held out a trembling hand. Sam tossed one of his jackets at Gabriel who nodded his thanks and followed Sam out of the apartment.

Sam glanced back at the shorter man, who seemed to be swallowed by his coat. “Where is this all night ping pong place?” 

“Just around the corner, it’s a community center.” He replied, they reached the cross walk and he pushed the sleeves up to press the button. The sleeves slipped back down and he accepted his fate and allowed his hands to be covered. 

“Oh. I didn’t know they stayed open this late, early, uh.” Gabriel laughed. 

It didn’t take five minutes to get there, but it was cold outside and felt more like half an hour. There were a few people there running on treadmills in the gym room, but it was generally empty inside. Gabriel went behind a counter and pulled out two paddles and a ball. 

“Are you ready to get your ass beat?” Gabriel smirked.

“You’ll eat your words.” 

“Oh will I now?”

“Just give me a paddle.” Sam grabbed one from Gabriel’s hand and walked over to the table. 

Gabriel squinted his eyes and focused as much as his trembling body would allow him, and he hit the ball into the opposite rectangle. Sam hit the ball back, they spent three minutes passing the ball back and forth before Sam missed. 

“Aha!” Gabriel laughed. Sam tossed the ball to Gabriel with a scowl. 

Gabriel was winning the match until Sam hit the ball and it landed on the edge of the table and flew off in the opposite direction Gabriel was. “Uncool!” he huffed. 

A grin filled Sam’s face as he served the ball. 

Three matches in and Gabriel was becoming distracted. He hit the ball a little too hard and it smacked Sam in the forehead. He gasped and brought a hand up to hide his giggles. Sam closed his eyes and bit his lip. “Did you really just do that?” 

Gabriel cringed, a smile still on his face. “Whoops.” He backed up as Sam came around the table. “There’s witnesses here, you can’t harm me!” 

“No. I suppose not.” Sam replied. Gabriel looked up at him a bit scared. “But I can do this.” Gabriel burst out laughing as Sam tickled his sides. He dropped the paddle flailing his   
arms. 

“S-stop, please! I-I can’t-t!” He said between giggles. 

“Not until you apologize.” 

“I’m so-orry!” 

Sam let him go and Gabriel put his hands on his hips. “That was mean.” 

“You hit me in the face.” Sam stated. “So I got revenge.”

“You are still mean!” 

“Baby.”

Gabriel stuck his tongue out and served the ball. 

Around four Gabriel started to crash. They had stopped playing ping pong a while before, and were sitting on the floor next to the table. He kept blinking hard and yawning.

“D’you wanna go home?” Gabriel shook his head. “You look like you’re about to pass out.” 

“No, I’m not even tired,” he replied yawning once more.

“I’m not convinced.” 

Gabriel didn’t respond, and they sat in silence, the only sound was the treadmills running in the other room. Slowly, Gabriel rested his head on Sam’s shoulder. 

“Take me home.” He mumbled.

“I’m not carrying you.” 

“But you have to!” he whined.

Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him up. “Nope, we’re walking.”

With an exasperated sigh, Gabriel allowed Sam to lead him home, not letting go of his hand. They took a lot longer than five minutes with Gabriel’s stumbling and slow stride. 

The rest of the morning Gabriel slept on Sam’s couch, being too tired to find his way back over the balconies.


	14. Chapter 10

Sam rolled over with a groan. He heard Gabriel let himself into his apartment, which wasn’t an uncommon thing, but it was Wednesday at nine in the morning. Where he’d gotten a key Sam had no clue, but he’d shrugged it off, he practically lived in his apartment anyway.

There was a soft knock on his bedroom door. Socks let out a low growl from his spot next to Sam’s leg. “Go away, I’m dying.” he muttered.

Gabriel opened the door anyway, “I know.” he said softly. “I was just making sure you weren’t actually dead.”

“I’m not.”

“Does that mean I get to be your nurse today, you know, without the sexy nurse costume, although I think I could find one if you want.” 

Sam rolled his eyes, “Yes, you go find your nurse outfit,” then he paused, “while I go throw up.” He said getting out of bed and rushing towards the bathroom. 

“Oh, gross.” He cringed following Sam to the bathroom, and pushing back the sweaty bangs that clung to his forehead. 

“You know you can leave at any moment you want to, right?” Sam said rocking back on his heels. 

Gabriel shook his head, “Not when you are broken.” Sam stood up and went back to bed, groaning as he laid down. “Aren’t you gonna brush your teeth?”

“I’m not kissing anybody.”

Gabriel sat in the bed next to him, “Is there anything you need?”

“Actually yeah, I need you to shut up.” Sam said into the pillow.

With a sigh Gabriel got up, “I’ll be back later.” 

Sam felt a bit guilty, all Gabriel wanted to do was help, but honestly, he felt like shit, and wanted some quiet. He got up from the bed fast, and rushed back to the bathroom, this time alone. 

When Gabriel returned later, Sam was asleep, tangled up in the blankets, sweating like the room was on fire. He hesitated a second before placing a palm on his forehead and sliding it down to feel his cheek with the back of his fingers. “You loser.” He whispered going to get a wet washcloth. 

Sam stirred a bit as the cool washcloth was placed on his forehead. He threw an arm across his face and pulled it back quickly at the cold. “Wha-?” 

“You’ve got a fever.” Gabriel said.

“Oh.” He pulled the blanket up farther around his neck.

“Go back to sleep, I’ll bring you some water.” Sam didn’t protest, if he had been feeling any better he probably would have made some objection about him being a ‘big boy’, but instead he was shivering as if it was below freezing. 

He returned with a glass, and found Sam half awake.

“Drink this.” 

Sam took the glass and drank it slowly, the glass chattering against his teeth. He was half dazed, and really sleepy. “C’mere.” He murmured. Gabriel looked at him strangely, but laid next to him on the bed. “You’re a nice nurse.” 

Gabriel smiled. “Go to sleep.” Sam rolled over and rested his head on Gabriel’s chest. 

“I feel so bad…” he mumbled.

“I know.” 

Within minutes, Sam was asleep again. 

It wasn’t that Gabriel didn’t want him there, he enjoyed being Sam’s pillow, but he was uncomfortable; half sitting up, and propped on an elbow. He pulled his arm out and fell   
back. It had occurred to him that he could probably get sick too, but it didn’t seem to matter. 

Sam was still sweaty and his hair clung to his face in strands. His cheeks were splotched pink, and he was still shaking slightly. Gabriel brushed Sam’s hair out of his face again, and smiled to himself. Besides the fact that he was sick, Gabriel thought Sam sleeping was adorable. 

His phone vibrated in his pocked, and somehow he managed to pull it out.

Where are you?  
-Stella

At Sam’s  
-Gabriel

Why aren’t you at work then?  
-Stella

I have better things to do, like be a pillow.  
-Gabriel

What?  
-Stella

Gabriel took a picture of Sam, on his chest, and sent it to her.   
Awh! What’s wrong with him?  
-Stella

The loser got himself sick…  
-Gabriel

She texted him a few more times, but he ignored them. So what if he missed an hour of work. It’s not like they’d fire him; he was one of three that worked at the Gallery and both Stella and the other person was working there today. Why they needed all three of them there was a mystery to Gabriel, but he’d eventually come in. 

Sam shifted, and got up quickly heading directly for the bathroom, once again to expel what little was still in his stomach. Gabriel took this as a sign that he should probably get up from the bed and get ready for work. He refilled the glass and made sure Sam was almost okay before locking the front door behind him as he left. 

Back at home, he stripped from his clothes, his shirt was damp with Sam’s sweat. With a grimace, he peeled it off and hopped into the shower. Within twenty minutes he was heading for work. 

“Thanks for arriving early!” Stella said.

“I try.” Gabriel said punching in the time card. “Why am I here?”

She shrugged. “I don’t make the schedule.” Gabriel sighed and took his seat next to Stella behind the front desk. “Why didn’t you just call in?”

“I’m not sick.”

“No, but your bae is.”

Gabriel spluttered, “You did not just say bae… Tell me that didn’t just come out of your face.” 

“So what if it did? You didn’t deny it.”

“He’s not my bae!” he glared. Stella laughed.

Only seven people showed up at the Gallery, which wasn’t uncommon, but didn’t require two people being there, let alone three. After a long boring day, Gabriel hesitated going back to check on Sam. He was an adult after all.

He knocked lightly before unlocking the door. Sam was sat on the couch curled up underneath a blanket, eating from a box of Cheerios. 

“Oh look, you’re among the living again!” 

“Yeah, I mean I still feel pretty awful, but hey.” He shrugged turning the sound down on the television. 

“You gonna go to work tomorrow?”

“I’ll get there when I get there.” 

Gabriel glanced at the television then back at Sam, “Well, if you’re good, I think I’ll go.”

“Hey, wait!” Gabriel turned back, “You said you knew I was sick, how?” 

“My Sammy senses were tingling. No, I don’t know.” He laughed.

Sam was quiet, “Thanks.” He said. “You know, for being my nurse. Although you never did get your costume.” 

“My costume guy was busy. But remind me and I’ll show you sometime.” He winked. 

“Definitely.” Sam blushed turning the volume on the television back up.


	15. Chapter 11

Gabriel knocked repeatedly on Sam’s front door until he heard a muffled, “It’s unlocked.” He let himself in and followed Sam’s voice to the   
bathroom, and let out a low whistle when he laid eyes on Sam. He was half dressed and about to put a red and black plaid button down on. 

“Damn, if you get any more ripped you’ll be in two pieces.” He laughed. Sam blushed bright.

“Get out of my bathroom, Asshat.” Sam shut the door.

“Well hurry up! It’s not every day I get to sell my paintings to people who have too much money.” Then he paused, “So I was thinking, I had to be   
invited to this thing, and I never showed anyone but you my pictures…”

“If you’re insinuating I got you into this, I didn’t.” 

Gabriel shook his head, “No, no. I was just a little confused about it.” 

You either had to be invited, or pay to get into the fair, and it definitely wasn’t cheap to get in. He had thought about not going, but he really   
needed the money, and if people were willing to pay at least 50 dollars for the paintings, who was he to say no? 

“You ready? We’ve got a bus to catch!”

“I thought we were gonna take my car.” 

“Nope. Stella already drove to paintings down, and I know a short cut.” Sam emerged from the bathroom, buttoned up and ready. “Seriously though,   
red is good for you.”

“Shut up.” He mumbled grabbing his keys off the table. 

Gabriel dragged Sam down the stairs. He was acting like an excited puppy and it took a lot for Sam to not stare at him in adoration. 

“You know, I don’t think I can remember the last time I rode a bus.” Sam said while waiting at the bus stop.

“Well, some of us aren’t as privileged as you and don’t own a car.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I know, I’m kidding. I hate riding the bus.” Gabriel admitted.

“Then why don’t you ask me to drive you places?” 

Gabriel shrugged. “I’ve got two feet and a heartbeat.” 

“Ugh, my uncle used to say that.” 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like your uncle?”

Sam cringed, “I hope not. That’d be awkward.” 

“I’m sure it would.” He winked.

The bus pulled up and they paid for their ride. Despite the strange scent of buffalo sauce and Old Spice, it wasn’t all that bad of an experience. But   
they were thankful when it didn’t take long for their stop to come.

“Thank you!” Gabriel exclaimed hopping out of the bus.

Sam nodded, “Thanks.” He said to the driver before following Gabriel down the street. “Where are you even going?” 

“Remember the shortcut? It’s this way!”

They cut through three alleys and crossed through a Walmart parking lot until they reached the closed off stretch of street for the art fair. 

“C’mon! I don’t trust Stella with my paintings for this long!” 

“What is it that you want me to do while you show off your pictures?” Sam asked catching up with him.

“Be your gorgeous self.” Sam’s face flushed bright. “It’s been so easy to make you blush lately. My powers must be getting stronger.”

“You keep believing that.” Sam replied. 

They reached the tent where Stella was hanging the pictures on the walls.

“It took you long enough.” She muttered. 

“The bus was late.”

“Why didn’t you take Sam’s car?”

“That’s what I said!” Sam exclaimed.

“I didn’t wanna okay.” Gabriel said shrugging his shoulders. 

@@@@@

“Alright, be cool guys, stay calm. People are starting to come. Stella be less annoying. Sam, try not to embarrass yourself. We’ve got a job to do!”   
Gabriel said.

“I think it’s you who needs to stay calm.” Sam said grabbing Gabriel’s forearms and looking into his eyes. “Deep breaths.” He did as he was   
told. “Better?” he nodded. “I know for sure you’ll sell a lot of paintings and everyone will know your name.” 

Gabriel beamed. “Thanks, but my art isn’t that great.”

“Don’t lie to yourself. It’s all beautiful.”

Stella watched from the corner with a knowing look on her face. The two idiots really needed to open their eyes. Of course she’d probably have to help with that, but it didn’t bother her much. Being fairy god mother was one of her favorite past times.   
@@@@@

A woman walked up to Gabriel. “Are you the one who painted these wonderful pieces?”

“I am.”

“Man, I’d love to know where you got your inspiration. These are too beautiful to not have some meaning behind them.”

He glanced over at Sam for half a second, “Honestly, I don’t know where they came from. They just kinda happened.” He said.

The woman pursed her lips. “Well, I’m jealous you can do that.” Gabriel smiled lightly and she moved on. That seemed to be the question of the night, besides the brand of paint he used. Everyone wanted to know who his muse was. Gabriel didn’t understand why his art couldn’t just be from him and had to have someone behind it. Honestly, there was a muse, but still.

Laughter sounded throughout the tent, he looked up to see Sam talking with two people. He had a grin on his face and talked animatedly with them. Sam seemed to brighten up the tent. It was eight and the only light shining in the tent was the inadequate lamps clasped to the tent walls. 

“Your heart eyes are showing.” Stella whispered.

Gabriel blinked hard and turned to her, “What?”

“You were staring at Sam, like he was some sort of God.” She smirked.

Gabriel blushed, “Damn, I looked like some sort of creep didn’t I?” 

“No more than usual. Are you about ready to leave, the people are leaving and I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah, yeah. We can start packing up.”

They’d sold thirteen of the twenty pictures he’d made, and that was more money than Gabriel had expected to make.   
Gabriel called shotgun, leaving Sam to sit in the back with the seven painting in Stella’s truck. It was a tight fit, with Sam’s knees closer to his body than he’d like. But what was fair was fair. 

“How about dinner? I’m rich now, I’ll buy it.” Gabriel suggested. 

“You are far from rich dear.” Stella said, “But I’m not gonna say no to a free meal.”

“Sam?” Gabriel turned to face him.

He nodded, “Sure, why not?” 

They ended up going to Chili’s after a long debate between Stella and Gabriel. It wasn’t a long wait, and Gabriel didn’t pout for long after Stella   
pulled up in the parking lot. 

“Table for three?” The hostess asked. Stella nodded, “Two dates? Wow, I can’t even get one.”

Stella erupted with laughter, “Two dates? More like the third wheel.” But the hostess was already leading them to the table and didn’t hear her. 

“Your waiter will be here in a moment.” She said placing menus in front of them. 

Gabriel’s phone rang halfway through their meal, “I’ve got to get this,” he said getting up from the table.

“Is everything alright?” the waiter said coming back to check on them. 

“Great.” Sam smiled, “Hey, could you make sure I get the bill please?” 

The waiter nodded, “Yes, of course.” 

“Awh, paying for Lover boy?” 

“And you.” 

Stella grinned, “Thanks, why?” 

“Because I’m great.” 

He wasn’t about to admit that he didn’t like having other people pay for him, and he definitely wasn’t going to mention the fact that all the money   
Gabriel had just received was actually still in check form and not in his bank account quite yet.

Gabriel returned to the table, “That was my old professor… Apparently it was him who invited me. Paid for me to be there really.” He said quietly. 

“So he didn’t hate your work.” Sam said.

“I don’t know, it’s been six years. I’m a little confused I guess.” He paused, “Anyway…”

“It’s good, it’s always been good.” Sam stated, “Don’t sell yourself short.” 

Gabriel smiled a small smile. 

The waiter returned with the bill and took their plates away. Gabriel furrowed his brows, “I was gonna pay.” 

“No, you get the tip.” 

“But, I said I would!” 

Sam pursed his lips, “Too late.” He handed the bill along with a credit card back to the waiter. 

Gabriel pouted and fished out his wallet, tossing a ten on the table. Sam shrugged sheepishly, “You can pay next time.” 

“Damn right I’m gonna.” 

Stella pushed her chair back, “Well, if you two are done bickering, I’m ready.” 

It wasn’t a long drive back to the apartments, and Stella barely stopped to let them out of her truck. 

“Thanks for dinner!” She called out the window before speeding off. 

“Being in a car with her is terrifying.” Sam admitted. Gabriel nodded in agreement, she took too many fast turns, stopped two quickly, and yellow lights obviously meant speed up to sixty in order to pass through the intersection. 

“Goodnight,” Sam called from the porch of his building.

Gabriel grinned, “Night.”


	16. Chapter 12

"I'd really like to kiss you." Gabriel muttered. He was quite tipsy but he knew exactly what he was saying. Sam just looked at him, his face absent of all emotion.

"God dammit. See I knew I'd fuck this up. I'd tell you at the wrong time that I think your face is really pretty and you are funny and sweet and caring..." the alcohol was making him ramble on. "But I also hate you because of how perfect your face is, and how confusing you are, and you have a slight temper. Did you know you hold a grudge like a bitch? And I hate how short you make me feel, and how you use your stupid law terms you know I won't understand. I despise how long you keep your hair, and how perfect it looks. I hate how much you care about dogs and how you are basically just a giant puppy. I hate everything about you. 

"I think you should probably go home and leave me in my embarrassing misery because I confessed all of that and you didn't even stop me. Why didn't you stop   
me?" He groaned. Sam kept staring at Gabriel emotionless.

"Fuck Sam! Say something! I've literally poured my soul out to you. Everything I just said was a lie. I don't hate you! I like you a lot more than I think I'm allowed to. God Sam! Please just say something or leave or smack me. Anything!" He exclaimed desperately.

Gabriel laughed to himself. "Hey maybe you won't remember this. Maybe you are too drunk to even comprehend what I've just said. I might be too drunk to comprehend what I've just said. Hopefully what I think just came out of my mouth was actually just a story about the squirrel I saw last week. That be a lif-"

Sam grabbed Gabriel’s shirt and pulled him close, "Do you want to know what I hate about you?" He asked, their lips barely brushing. Gabriel bit his bottom lip. "You are so cocky, and loud, and bossy, and short. Your paint gets everywhere and you lose everything. You desperately need approval and can't stand the thought of someone hating you even a little bit. You are so blunt and straightforward. And the pout you make when you don't get your way, I think it's your face in general. You should stop being yourself because it annoys me so fucking much." He growled smashing their lips together, kissing Gabriel hungrily. 

Gabriel kissed him back just as rough, getting as much out of it as he could because frankly he was scared it would never happen again. Gabriel pulled away first   
gasping for breath. Once he could breathe again he asked "How drunk are you?"

Sam shrugged. "Enough."

Gabriel's mood dropped, he was drunk, and he didn't mean it. Sam would go back to being his neighbor because it was a mistake. What hurt worse was Gabriel   
poured everything out and Sam probably really was telling him all of the things he hated about him.

"I think you should leave." Gabriel said. 

"Leave? But it was just getting good!" Sam whined.

"I said you should leave!" He said louder.

Sam huffed a bit and walked to the front door. "See, you are short and bossy!" He said leaving Gabriel's apartment and walking back to his own. 

Sam wasn't that drunk. Okay, enough to have a serious hangover tomorrow, but not enough he'd forget where he lived. He threw the front door open and slammed it behind him collapsing on the couch, falling asleep instantly.

He woke up to blinding sunlight shining in from the back door, and promptly fell off the couch. He clutched his pounding head and went straight to the bathroom where he downed several pain killers. He couldn't remember much, just getting drunk with Gabriel and that he listened to Gabriel talk for a really long   
time. He only wished he had a clue what Gabriel had said.

He glanced out the back door and noticed Gabriel sitting on one of the patio chairs, his fingers on his lips, thinking about something. Sam stepped onto the   
porch and Gabriel looked up, pulling his hand away from his mouth quickly. 

"Uhm, I don't think I want to get that drunk again any time soon." Sam said trying to ease the obvious tension.

Gabriel checked the time on his phone. "Look, I'd love to chat, but I've got to get to work. So..." he trailed off.

"Right yeah... uh, did something happen last night?" Sam asked. "Because if I did something bad, I want to make it up to you."

Gabriel brought his hand back up to his mouth, then realized what he was doing and clenched his fist bringing it back down to his side. "No, nothing you should worry about." He replied then walked into his house.

Sam knew something happened. Gabriel was a terrible liar. He just hoped that he'd slowly remember as the day went on. He grabbed a box of cereal and poured himself a bowl. Sam willed himself to remember, he tried until his head hurt even worse than it had before. 

When Gabriel got to the museum, Stella knew something had happened to him. Everyone could read him like a book. He glared at her "Don't ask." He growled.

"Nuh uh. I've got to ask. You can't be in a bad mood when you work customer service. What happened to poor little Gabey?" She asked pinching his cheek.

He swatted her hand away. "Nothing!"

Stella raised her eyebrows, "Alright then I guess I'll have to stick you in the back room to clean the paintings that we are bringing out in a few weeks. Then I get to be a detective." She said knowing Gabriel wasn't allowed to bring any electronics into the room lest he forget that certain lights will harm the art. 

He locked his phone in the safe behind the front desk and proceeded to the back room. He wasn't going to object to not having to spend the day with people, but cleaning paintings was probably the worst part of the job.

Once he was safely hidden in the back, Stella unlocked the safe and pulled his phone out. She searched the contacts for someone who might know something. She found Dean, who judging by the texts was Sam’s brother and they were sharing some pretty awful childhood stories. She also found Castiel who sent weird   
texts. But the one she wanted to find the most was Sam's number. It was under SAMMICH!!! Which Stella thought was adorable. 

She called him and he picked up on the third ring. "Hello?" He answered a little groggy.

"Hi there." 

"Who is this? Did Gabriel lose his phone again? That'd be just like him." Sam said.

"Nah, it's Stella! I'm just trying to figure out what's got Gabe's panties in a knot." 

"Honestly that's what I've been trying to remember." 

"What happened?" She asked settling in the chair behind her. The gallery wasn't set to open for another 30 minutes.

"I don't know, we got drunk, he said things I can't remember, I woke up on my couch, and when I found him this morning he didn't want to talk. But he claims nothing happened. I figure I'll remember eventually though."

Stella hummed into the phone. "Why don't you come down here and ask him again? It would save a lot of worrying." 

"Honestly I don’t think he’d like that."

Gabriel came back into the lobby to ask what painting needed cleaning when he noticed Stella on his phone. "Excuse you." He snapped wrenching the phone   
from her hands.

"I'm sorry whoever this is but Stella has to go." He said hanging up.

"You just hung up on your Sammich, all caps with three exclamation points!" She said.

"Why we're you on my phone?" He asked, his hands on his hips.

"I told you I was being a detective!" 

"Well you can be a detective calling everyone on your phone, not mine."

"Too late, he already told me about last night." Gabriel's face paled. "He told me he can't remember much, so obviously something happened and you need to tell me so you won't be sad anymore. I was just trying to help you."

His anger lessened. "Fine," he said in a calmer voice. "He kissed me okay. He said hated me and then we kissed."

Stella squealed. "I knew you weren't just neighbors!" Then she paused. "Wait, he hates you? Then why'd you kiss?"

"Fuck if I know. But it was obviously a mistake and he doesn't need to know."

"Uhm, yes he needs to know. And if you don't tell him, I will and it'll be so much worse." She threatened.

Gabriel scoffed. "And how will you tell him?" 

"With my mouth, in approximately 5 minutes if he took his car." 

“You’re kidding!” 

“Yeah. I am. He thinks too much of your feelings, but I will tell him when I get off if you don’t tell him during your break.” 

“This is ridiculous.” Gabriel exclaimed exasperatedly. 

“Do you see me giving a fuck?” She stated, “Clean all of McClellan’s works.” 

He groaned and went back in the dark room. 

There was no way he was going tell Sam that they kissed. If he cared enough, he’d remember himself. Besides, Gabriel didn’t want to change anything in their relationship. They were fine as friends. 

@@@@

Sam couldn’t focus on anything. There had to be a way for him to remember. He sat down at the kitchen table and started from the beginning. They had been hanging out after work, a particularly bad day of work for Sam at least. And every time Sam drank with Gabriel he’d allow himself to get more drunk than he would with anyone else. He remembered a shared silence, almost a mourning of the terrible day, and then Gabriel saying something. But what the hell could it have been? I, I’d really… that was as far as his mind would let him go.

I’d really…

I’d really…

I’d really like to kiss you…

Sam swallowed hard as it all came back to him. He’d fucking kissed Gabriel. It was too soon. Well, it had been a few months since Jess, four to be exact. So   
maybe it wasn’t as soon as he thought it had been, but that didn’t mean he was ready to admit that he had feelings for Gabriel to Gabriel. 

There was a knock at his door. Fearfully he opened it and found Stella. “How can you hate a fluffy little muffin like Gabriel?” She exclaimed angry. 

“I don’t hate him!” 

“Then why would you say it? Why would you kiss him? WHy would you play with his emotions?” She asked. Honestly she was scaring Sam.

“I don’t honestly know why. I didn’t mean to kiss him. Fuck Stella, I just realized I kissed him like five minutes ago please!” 

“You are an idiot! I don’t know isn’t an answer!” 

“Because if given the chance I’d definitely kiss him again. Because I’ve wanted to kiss him since Christmas! Because it was bound to happen eventually.” Sam admitted.   
@@@@@

Gabriel was dreading what Stella was doing. Normally he was the one who got off work first. This was the first time in a long time he had had to close the Gallery.   
Why tonight of all nights? He was terrified. 

He practically ran home and when he reached the apartment complex he noticed Stella’s car and started cursing. He didn’t bother going up to Sam’s apartment to stop her, what was done was done. Slowly he went up the stairs to his own apartment and went straight into the kitchen to feed Copernicus.

@@@@@

“Look he’s home.” Stella exclaimed. 

Sam looked out the back door. “Yes.”

“Oh for God’s sake, march you ass over there and talk to him. You both are fucking babies seriously! I don’t think I’ve ever been this stubborn.” She said. 

Sam scrunched his nose and went out the back door. He knocked on Gabriel’s door and waited patiently until Gabriel appeared. 

“She told you huh?” He asked sliding open the door.

Sam shook his head, “No she just yelled at me.” There was an awkward silence, “I don’t hate you.”

“I know. I just panicked.” Gabriel admitted.

Sam looked at his shoes, “I’m not sorry I kissed you, either.” 

“Well, I wanted to in the first place. I really do like you, a lot.”

Sam smiled a half smile, “I’d be upset if you didn’t.”

Gabriel looked up, “We don’t want you upset now do we?” 

“Can, can I kiss you again, or…”

Gabriel cut him off by standing on his toes and pressing his lips against Sam’s. They could her the squeal from Stella back in Sam’s apartment.

“Does it need to be fancy or can I ask you to be my boyfriend like this?” Sam asked pulling away.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Nah, I’m low maintenance.”

“We both know that’s a lie.”

“You.” He poked Sam’s dimple, “You shut up.”

“So…”

“Yes you idiot.” He smiled kissing Sam again.


	17. Chapter 13

Sam ran up the stairs rather than taking the elevator, and made it to his office just before he was considered late. 

“Winchester, you’ve got the coffee right?” 

Sam was panting slightly, “Yeah, I brought it, like every day.”

“Good!” His boss said. 

He was tired of all of this, and he was going to finally say something. Of course saying something meant the possibility of getting fired, and he couldn’t afford something like that. He looked up at his boss dressed in an awful pinstriped suit and took a deep breath.

“Sir, I’ve been working here for three years now, and you’ve only given me the one case. You’ve got me bringing your coffee every morning, and I’ve already done my time as an intern. I’m not complaining, but everyone else has had several cases in the past six months, and I’ve had the one.” 

He looked at Sam pointedly. “I would give you another case if you could prove to me you’ll win it. I understand that we will get paid anyway, but I like the guarantee that our, my, firm will get good marks.”

“How am I supposed to prove that if you won’t give me a case?” Sam asked dumbfounded.

“I don’t know, but until then you’re on coffee duty, filer, and support for the client lunches.” His boss turned and walked into his office. 

“You forgot your coffee sir.” 

At least he still had his job. But this wasn’t what he wanted. He hadn’t worked that hard to get the full ride to be a paid intern. 

Sam sat down at his desk and sighed heavily. An email popped up on the computer screen.

*I need you to pick up my dry cleaning at four.* 

His mouth fell open. No, there was no way he was going to do that. He was a lawyer, not an assistant. At least that’s what he thought he was. 

 

Gabriel called him around lunch time, “Hey, are you gonna be home early?” 

“No, I gotta pick my boss’s dry cleaning up.”

“Darn! Wait, dry cleaning? Last time I checked that wasn’t law…”

“I don’t know what law is anymore.” Sam admitted. 

Gabriel sighed, “I bought a movie and we were gonna watch it together, but if you’re not gonna be back until six, then I don’t know.”

“I’ll try to be back by five, and I’ll bring dinner.” 

“Yay!” Gabriel exclaimed. “Hey, I gotta go, your dog is eating a thing. Hey, drop tha-” the line went dead. 

Sam smiled to himself and put the phone back on the receiver. 

 

At four he left to get the dry cleaning and when he got there he realized that his boss hadn’t actually paid for the clothes.

“Are you completely positive he didn’t pay for it already?”

“Yes, sir, there are other people behind you.” The woman behind the counter said. 

With a sigh, Sam pulled his wallet out of his pocket and produced a credit card. He didn’t understand how someone could have an almost 75 dollar dry cleaning bill, especially with only two shirts. 

Sam had no clue where he was supposed to put the shirts now he had them, and opted for taking them back into the building rather than searching the parking lot for his boss’s car. 

“Oh good! We’re having a meeting in ten minutes.” His boss said looking up from a file. “You can just throw those on the chair.”

Sam set them down, “You didn’t pay for them.” 

“No?” 

“It was 73 dollars sir.” Sam said. 

“You shoulda just left them there then. Hey, I need you to find Susan and ask her about the depositions from the Wilson case for next week, and run over to Penny and remind her to hold all of my calls for the next hour, my intercom broke earlier.” 

“So you’re not going to pay for the shirts?” He asked again.

His boss set the file down on the desk, “Would you drop the shirts and do what I asked.” 

Sam narrowed his eyes and left the room. First stopping by Penny at her desk, “Duncan wants you to hold his calls for the next hour.” He said a little harsher than he’d meant and kept walking until he found Susan standing outside the break room. “Duncan needs you to go over the dispositions for Wilson, I’m sure he’d like to talk to you about them after the meeting.” 

She furrowed her eyebrows, “Meeting?”

“Surprise! You’ve got five minutes.” He said before heading towards the bathroom. 

Nothing was going as planned, it was five fifteen already and Gabriel was all excited to watch whatever movie it was they were going to watch. He felt like a shitty boyfriend already, even though it had only been a week and a half. 

After splashing his face with water, Sam called him.

“Hey,” Gabriel answered on the second ring. 

“Hi, I, uh, I’ve got a surprise meeting, and I honestly have no clue when I’ll be back.” 

“Oh,” Gabriel’s voice fell. “Alright, well, we can watch it another day then.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“No you’re cool. I’ll just see you when you get off.” 

“Bye.” Sam said quietly and they hung up. 

God he hated his job. 

 

“We’ve successfully completed another five cases in the last month, but lost three. I’d love to say this was our best month, but it’s not. I’d like to   
take a moment to congratulate the few who managed to win. And to a better next month. Now to move onto progress.” The two guys sitting next to Sam started muttering to each other. “Winchester, please, if you’re going to say something say it out loud.” 

He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally speaking, “I didn’t say anything sir.” 

Sam was ignored, “What do we have for Wilson and the Johnson Construction files?” Susan started to speak when the guys started up again. 

“Winchester! OUT!” Duncan yelled. “I’ll speak with you in my office afterwards.”

And the flashbacks to Sam’s sophomore year science class started happening, “Sir, I did not say a word! It was them.” He pointed at the two men. 

“This isn’t elementary school.” Sam stared at him in disbelief. 

“No, sir, it isn’t.” He said coldly. He got up and walked out of the meeting room, not bothering to time out, and left the building. 

@@@@

There was a knock at Gabriel’s front door, he set his laptop on the coffee table and removed Copernicus from his lap. Behind the door was Sam holding a bag of Chinese takeout. “How ‘bout that movie?” 

Gabriel grinned, “What happened to the meeting?” 

He shrugged, “I’m probably fired, but y’know.” 

“For a movie?” Sam laughed and walked inside, setting the bag on the table. 

 

Empty containers were strewn across the coffee table, and Sam had his head in Gabriel’s lap with his feet hanging off the edge of the couch. He   
didn’t actually know what movie they were watching, but it wasn’t so bad. He was too distracted by the fingers playing with his hair, to focus. Sam wouldn’t outright admit that he adored his hair being played with, but if Gabriel tried hard enough he could get Sam to purr.

“Honestly though, are you fired?” Gabriel asked shutting the finished movie off. 

“Probably not, but I’ll definitely still be bringing coffee and getting dry cleaning.” 

“Why don’t you quit? We can find you another firm.” 

“I’ve only had the one case, and no one wants to hire someone who’s lost their only case.” 

Gabriel scrunched his face in thought, “Well, maybe if you explained that your boss was a douche bag, then they’d understand.” 

“If we can get me an interview then I’ll gladly put in my two week notice.” 

“I’m off tomorrow morning, I’ll start looking.” 

“Thank you.” Sam said sitting up. He kissed Gabriel and got off the couch, “I’ve got to get up early and get 7 coffees before work, I’m gonna head   
home.” 

Gabriel followed him to the door, “Good luck.” He said kissing Sam again.

@@@@

Sam got to work half an hour early with the seven coffees. He set them on their respected desks, and waited until his boss arrived to give him his.   
At promptly seven o’clock he arrived. Sam waited a few minutes before knocking on the office door. 

“Come in.” 

Sam put on his best pleasant face and walked in, “Your coffee sir.” 

“That was some stunt you pulled yesterday.” He stated. 

Sam raised an eyebrow, “Stunt? I did absolutely nothing.” 

“Interrupting during a meeting and not showing up in my office afterwards, does that not ring any bells?” 

“With all due respect sir, I only didn’t go to your office because I did not do anything wrong. I paid for your 73 dollar dry cleaning bill, I buy your   
coffee every single morning, out of my own paycheck, and I treat you with respect you don’t deserve.” 

His boss pursed his lips, “This, here, is not respect. Get back to work.” 

“You know what, I think I’m done here. I quit.” Sam grabbed the coffee off the desk and dropped it in the trash before leaving the room. 

He marched over to his desk, printed out the resignation form and filled it out, not bothering to take the paper into the office, but leaving it with   
Penny at the receptionist’s desk. 

“Are you really leaving Sam?” She asked. 

He raised his hands in the air in sort of a shrug, “This is a terrible firm, what else do I need to say?” 

“Well, you’re not wrong.” She smiled, “Good luck out there.” 

 

He got home and found Gabriel on his couch with his glasses on scrolling through a list of firms on his laptop. 

“You’re home early.” He observed not bothering to look up. 

“Yeah, I, uh, I quit today.” 

“That’s cool.” He muttered absently, then he paused looking up, “You quit?” Sam nodded. “Well now we definitely have to search for a new job for   
you.” 

The next two hours were spent searching for new law firms, but none really worked well. Sam was more of a criminal or money case kind of lawyer;   
he really didn’t see himself working with injuries or car wrecks, not that he wanted to work those either.

“How about this one?” Gabriel asked turning his laptop towards Sam. 

“That might work if it wasn’t back in Kansas.” Sam said.

“Oh, ew.” Gabriel said and cringed, “Yeah, definitely not Kansas.” 

Sam pretended to be offended, “What’s wrong with Kansas?” 

“What isn’t? Besides the fact that it’s like two bajillion miles away from me, there is nothing cool there.”

“It’s only a few states away. Besides, I did live there for a while.” 

“Duh, Babe, I know that, but I’d lose you to barbecue and the Chiefs.” He physically shuddered. 

Sam rolled his eyes “Yes, because I long for that.” 

“I know you do.” Gabriel smiled pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “But promise me no Kansas.” 

 

Sam kept looking although he took breaks when Gabriel had to leave for work, and to take Socks out for walks. It took a little longer than two   
weeks before any of the firms Sam applied to called him back. It was a huge relief to not be sitting around his house anymore, not that he didn’t mind the free time, but it was a little too much after the first three days. And he was thankful anyone called back, his biggest fear was not finding any job in a decent amount of time. 

Two interviews were set up, and despite his awkwardness, Sam got one of the jobs at Anderson and Smith. He was handed an easy case the second week into it. Even the hours were better, 7 to 5 instead of the 6 to 6 he’d had before. Frankly everyone was much happier than they’d been before.


	18. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets pretend it's May!

“Are you aware that you are turning 28 tomorrow? Bleh.” Gabriel asked.

“What’s wrong with that?” 

“That means that you’re only one year younger than me, and not a baby anymore!”

Sam raised an eyebrow, “I haven’t been a baby since I was 5.” 

“Ah, we both know that’s not quite true.” Gabriel laughed. “I still haven’t gotten you a present.”

“I don’t need anything.” 

Gabriel stood up, “Oh my God, don’t be one of those people! You are gonna get a present and you are gonna love it!” He exclaimed walking towards the front door. He turned back and kissed Sam before shutting the door behind him. 

Gabriel stood in the parking lot of the apartments for a good ten minutes trying to figure out what the potatoes to get Sam. He already had everything he needed, or wanted, which was the trouble with rich lawyer boys. It often confused Gabriel as to why Sam stayed living in the apartment when he could probably afford a real house if he wanted one. He never asked Sam though, he like having a boyfriend not even ten feet away. 

Settling on just wandering stores, Gabriel went left with nowhere in mind. 

He didn’t wear jewelry, and Gabriel wasn’t going to buy clothes. For a minute he contemplated filling a piñata with broccoli or something, but decided against it when the price for the vegetable was more than he was willing to spend on any food product. 

And then Gabriel got an idea for the perfect gift. He’d seen the subtle longing looks when they passed the store, and he’d seen the folder of pictures Sam kept on his laptop. It was plainly obvious what Sam was getting for his birthday and Gabriel could have smacked himself for not thinking of it sooner. Sam wanted a tattoo. Gabriel had one of his own, a small set of wings on his left wrist, and Sam adored it, often tracing absentmindedly while they watched the   
television or when he was tired.

“You’re gonna love what I’m getting you!” Gabriel said that night before bed. 

“You should tell me what it is.” 

Gabriel tangled their legs together, “Absolutely not! But I promise it’s pretty great.”

“I’m sure it is.” He said leaning over to turn off the lamp. Gabriel threw an arm over Sam’s waist, careful not to move his free leg too much to not disturb Socks. 

It was cold, well, at least Sam was waking up that morning. He didn’t notice when Gabriel got up, but now he was cold and didn’t want to be in bed anymore. Trudging into the kitchen, he stood behind Gabriel at the stove and wrapped his arms around his waist. 

“Happy Birthday.” Gabriel smiled, “I made toast!” 

“Yay! Bread!” Sam joked. 

“French toast you ass!” He turned around and stood on his tip toes, planting a kiss on Sam’s mouth. “So I was thinking, d’you want a tattoo?” 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” He turned to flip a slice of bread, “I’m gonna pay for it and that’s your present!” 

Sam grinned, “That sounds amazing.” 

“We don’t have to do it today though, give you time to think about what you want.” 

“Peccavi.” Sam stated.

Gabriel looked at him like he’d gone crazy, “Pec what?” 

“Peccavi, that’s what I want.” he said again. “Right here.” He pointed to his side, lower down on his ribcage. 

“What is Peccavi?”

“It’s Latin. It’s cool, Thank you.” he kissed Gabriel again and went to get dressed.

By lunch time Sam had gotten a phone call from his father, a text from Dean, an unexpected text from Jess, and a few from his old college friends. If he was going to be honest, he’d rather them all forget his birthday, but it was still nice to know they remembered. 

“Are you positive that’s what you want?” Gabriel asked swinging their linked hands as they walked down the street. 

“I’ve been positive for years.”

“Why didn’t you get one before then?”

Sam shrugged, “It never felt like an option.”

“Well it’s about to be permanent.” He opened the door to the same shop where he got his tattoo and a little bell rang at the top of the entrance. 

After the whole waiting and preparation Sam went back. He barely flinched at the needle, and was surprised that it didn’t hurt quite as much as Dean had made it seem. Of course Dean had gotten his when he was sixteen and not all tough like he was now. And forty-five minutes later there was a simple word inked into Sam’s side. 

On the way home Gabriel spoke up, “So are you going to tell me what Peccavi means or just tell me it’s Latin again?”

“It means I have sinned.” Gabriel nodded, then furrowed his eyebrows not saying a word. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, “I like it.” 

“I should’ve made you draw something.”

Gabriel laughed, “No, tattoos are permanent. Who knows how long we’ll be together.” 

Sam stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at Gabriel carefully, “Gabriel, I-“ then he sighed thinking better of it, “I’d be happy wearing whatever you designed, even if we break up in three years or three weeks.”

“Happy Birthday Sammy.” He said a half smile on his face.


	19. Chapter 15

“I wanna take you on a real date.” Sam said when Gabriel entered the kitchen.

“A real date?” He asked surprised. 

“Well yeah. We’ve been together for how long? Two months? It’s about time.” 

“But what if I wanted to take you out?” Gabriel asked placing his hands on his hips.

“We could share if you really wanted.” 

Gabriel scoffed, “It should be coordinated and involve ice cream.” 

“I called dibs!” 

“I’m cuter!” 

“I can’t disagree with you on that one, but I already have the date planned.” Sam smirked. 

“You’re so mean to me.”

“How am I mean?”

“I don’t know, you just are!” Gabriel exclaimed and took a step forward cupping Sam’s face, kissing him hard causing him to stumble into the refrigerator. Sam lifted him up and placed him on the counter behind them, moving one hand to behind Gabriel’s neck pulling him closer. Wrapping his legs around Sam’s waist, Gabriel tangled his fingers in Sam’s hair. Sam moved from his mouth to kissing along Gabriel’s jawline and down his neck, biting lightly as he went. 

“Hey Samm- ugh, my eyes!” Dean exclaimed, “Cas stay out there!”

Sam pulled away, a string of spit breaking between their lips, “Dean?” 

“Are you done molesting your neighbor?” Sam nodded, “Sorry we didn’t call before.”

“Nah, it’s fine. What’s up?” 

Castiel poked his head in through the door, “Can I come in now?” 

Gabriel jumped off the counter, “Cassie!” he pushed Castiel out the door and followed. 

“So, you’ve got anything to tell me?” 

“No, do you?”

“Nope.” 

Sam smirked, “How’ve you been?” He asked pulling Dean into a hug. 

“Just fine.” He replied. 

It was a nice surprise having Dean visit even though he did interrupt something that was definitely going somewhere. He hadn’t   
seen Dean since before he’d broken up with Jess almost a year ago. 

“So what brings you out to Lexington?” Sam asked. 

Dean flicked his wrist, “Y’know, I had some time off and one can only stand Dad for so long.” 

“Did you finally sell his house for him?” 

“Yeah, that and the car. Lemme tell you, that man doesn’t want to let go of anything.” 

“Hmm…” he let out a disheartened hum that Dean either ignored or didn’t hear. 

“So is there any dives or diners I haven’t visited yet? It was a long drive.” 

“There’s Mel’s.” Gabriel shouted through the doorway. 

“That sounds promising. Burgers and pie?” 

“Only the best!” 

Dean looked over at Sam who shrugged “It’s pretty great.” 

“You should totally go.” Gabriel suggested. 

“D’you wanna?” He asked Castiel

“We haven’t eaten all day Dean. Why would you even ask?” 

They went out to Mel’s, and Dean got exactly wanted and moaned sexually into almost every bite until Castiel apprehended   
Dean of the food and called the waitress to take it from him. 

“Don’t do that.” Dean pouted, “At least don’t do that in public.” 

“Oh my God,” Sam groaned and turned to look out the window.

“Hey, I’m just being honest.” Castiel said. 

“Of course you were. I hope you don’t mind, but Gabe and I were gonna go out tonight.” Sam said.

Castiel scrunched his nose and turned to face Dean. “I told you they’d be busy!” 

“Yeah, and Sammy said we could stay here for the night. I can’t promise we won’t break anything, but go out do whatever it was   
you were gonna do before we barged in.” 

“Here are the keys to my apartment. Just don’t have sex on the couch, or my bed, anywhere really.” 

The blush on both Dean and Castiel’s face would have been funnier if Sam hadn’t been completely serious. 

“Who do you take me for?” Dean exclaimed. 

He raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think you want me to answer that.” Dean grumbled and crossed his arms. 

@@@@

“You clean up nice.” Gabriel did sort of a curtsy the best he could. Whatever had crossed his mind that said it was a good idea to buy himself skinny jeans at 29 was apparently not aware of how difficult it was to actually bend in the denim. But Sam seemed to enjoy the view so obviously it was worth it. 

“You don’t look so bad yourself. It’s nice to know I have influence on your clothing.” Sam had gone out to buy red shirts after Gabriel had mentioned it. Not that he did it only for Gabriel, but let’s face it, there was no other way Sam would have acquired   
those shirts. Normally he’d just buy the first shirt that looked like it’d fit, and ten out of eleven times that shirt was plaid.   
Obviously he shopped at the lumberjack emporium.

“So where is it you’re taking me? It involves ice cream right?” 

“You’ll just have to wait.”

Gabriel pouted, “But I hate surprises! They’re too…surprising.” 

They drove a while, out to a place Gabriel hadn’t been to, but then again there were many places in the city he hadn’t been. He   
should have been saving up for a car, but really it was the car or a place to live. 

The car stopped outside a large plain building with a single orange fish above the door. At first Gabriel was a bit skeptical, but   
Sam seemed excited so he allowed himself to be dragged inside what he realized was an aquarium. 

“Oh my God, if there are whales and dolphins here I may have to harm you.” Gabriel warned.

Sam put his hands up, “No, I checked before. It’s just fish.” 

“You know me so well.” he grinned. 

“I’ve had this planned for a while.” 

“I hope you know when we get home I’m painting fish and you can’t stop me.”

Sam smirked, “I can think of a few ways to stop you.” 

“Oh really? Care to elaborate?” 

“Well, I could hide your paint, or I could become very distracting.” 

“I might enjoy being distracted though.” He winked. Sam opened his mouth to say something when Gabriel grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to a tank with jellyfish. “Look at the brainless little plastic bags. They’re so cute!” he cooed.

“Yes, you are.” 

Gabriel’s mouth fell open. “Wow, thanks. I love you too.” His mouth shot closed at that ‘oh fuck’ moment. Gabriel had always imagined saying I love you would be pretty much like how it had happened, but he was never the one who’d said it first. It was   
always Sam. 

A grin grew across Sam’s face, “I do though. I love you.”

Gabriel bit his lip trying to hide his smile, “C’mon you dork. I wanna see some fishies.” He laced their fingers together and pulled him through the hallway.

He tried to think back to the people he’d said I love you to before, Gabriel was pretty sure he’d never said it to Kali, and he knew he hadn’t meant it when he’d said to back in high school to his past boyfriends and girlfriends, that wasn’t love, lust maybe, but   
definitely not love. So maybe the only two he meant was to his mother and Sam. 

They walked around hand in hand through the halls of fish, sharks, and turtles, oblivious of the stares form children and closed   
minded adults.

“I should get a fish.” Gabriel stated, staring at a tank full of Nemo fish. 

“And put it where?” 

“In a bowl, duh.” 

Sam rolled his eyes, “I don’t mean to crush your dreams, but the heating and air conditioning in your apartment don’t work 90   
percent of the time. You’d probably kill it.” 

“So we put it in your apartment.” 

“You are not putting a fish in my apartment.”

Gabriel pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. “But I love you and that means I get to put a fish in your apartment.” 

“I don’t think saying you love me means exactly what you think it means.” 

“Alright, no fish.” 

When they left the aquarium it was dark, and they both decided they could just go home instead of anything else because although everywhere would still be open they were both losers who didn’t want to stay out all night partying. They drove back, accidentally hitting every stop light on the way. 

Sam pulled into the apartment parking lot and parked in his usual spot. Leaning over the console, Gabriel pulled Sam into a kiss.

“This was fun.” 

“Sorry it wasn’t longer.” 

“It was great.” He kissed Sam again longer this time. “And we coulda made this date longer if our brothers weren’t upstairs.” 

“Damn. They’re such cockblocks.” 

“It’s not like they’ll be there forever.”

“I can hardly wait.” 

They entered their separate apartment buildings. The front door to Sam’s apartment was cracked open, and at first he was a little worried Socks might have gotten out, but he found all of them asleep on his couch with the television as the only light in the room. Draping a blanket across all three of them and turning off the television, he went into his room.


	20. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is pretty much only terrible smut, and it doesn’t add to the plot so feel free to skip it if you want. WARNING-this probably isn’t good… like at all… sorry…

“I’ve got inspiration!” Gabriel sang as he set up an easel in Sam’s apartment without asking. He brought real paint and  
brushes over this time, instead of the usual airbrush. 

“What is it?” Sam asked. 

“You know I don’t tell until the painting’s done.” 

“So I don’t get to watch you paint it?” He pouted. 

“Nope! And if you do we’re gonna have some issues.” He warned. 

A few minutes later Sam walked up behind him and put his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders. Turning quickly, Gabriel smeared a line of blue paint across his forehead. “I told you!” Sam took a step back and blinked, then wrestled the brush from his grip and slid it down Gabriel’s cheek. “You fucker.” Sam just shrugged. 

Gabriel stuck his fingers in a jar of yellow paint and rubbed it down his face and onto his shirt. “Are we really doing this?” Sam asked looking down at his now ruined shirt. 

“You started it!” 

Leaning around him, Sam had the yellow jar in his grasp and smeared the paint along Gabriel’s jawline. In a matter of seconds Sam was on the floor with Gabriel straddling him. His hands were still covered in yellow paint, so he rubbed them down Gabriel’s arms. Somewhere Gabriel had found green and had it covering the half of Sam’s face that wasn’t yellow. 

Gabriel rolled his hips forward causing Sam to arch back moaning. He took this opportunity to cover his neck in paint. A disgusted expression appeared on Sam’s face. “That was a cheap move.” He said, wiping as much off as he could. 

“How else am I supposed to teach you?” Gabriel asked with a look of innocence. 

“Well, if these are the consequences, then I might watch you paint more often.” Sam said, fidgeting a bit underneath  
Gabriel. 

“I can’t paint now. My brush is broken.” Gabriel said holding the bottom half of the brush. 

“I’ve got tape.” Sam took it and placed it on the floor next to him. 

“Paint is expensive.” 

“I’ll buy you more.” 

“I lost my inspiration.”

“Let’s make some.” 

Sam pulled Gabriel back down and kissed him hard, not caring how much paint he got on the carpet. Returning his hands to Gabriel’s waist, Sam gripped him tight as he ground his hips into Sam’s longer and harder than before. He  
arched back again, a moan in the back of his throat. 

“Maybe we could lose the jeans though?” 

“Ah, they wouldn’t be consequences if you got what you wanted.” Gabriel smirked grinding down again.

“Shit, Gabe!” He breathed out. 

Leaning forward so only his hands, tangled in Sam’s hair, were the only things touching his body, Gabriel kissed on the only spot of bare skin left exposed on his body, a spot on his jawline. Gliding his teeth against it he bit down lightly. Roaming his hands all along Sam’s body, gently caressing every inch he could get his hands on. Gabriel was enjoying the moans coming from him.

Lowering himself back down, he rolled his hips again. Sam groaned as Gabriel undid his jeans and stuck his hand down stroking his fingers against his cock. Swiping his thumb through the pre-come, he slid his hand down the length, and back up twisting slightly towards the top. 

“Fas-“He arched back as Gabriel’s pace quickened and his pressure increased. “I’m gonna, about to.” He came on his jeans and Gabriel’s hand. 

Sam could’ve stopped there, but he preferred to hear Gabriel calling out his own name. He changed their position so  
Gabriel was underneath him.

“Hey!” he protested.

“Is for horses.” Sam said kissing Gabriel before he could protest anymore. Gabriel bucked his hips up, trying to find a way to go back to teasing Sam, before giving up and letting him take charge. 

Unbuttoning Gabriel’s shirt slowly, he kissed where each button had been, leaving green marks in the shape of his lips. Sam stopped right before the edge of his jeans. Looking through his eyelashes up at Gabriel, he received a slight nod of the head in response. He lifted his hips up as Sam lowered his already loose jeans, freeing his erection. 

Sam twirled his tongue around the head before taking him fully into his mouth. Gabriel searched blindly, as he moaned, for a place to grab onto; leaving scratches on the top of Sam’s shoulders before tangling his fingers in his hair. And as Sam bobbed his head Gabriel’s gasps and whimpers were almost reward enough. 

“I-I, fuck.” He shuddered as an orgasm raced through him. Sam coaxing him along with his tongue as Gabriel came.  
Swallowing, Sam leaned forward and kissed him again before rocking back on his heels. 

“You’ve got paint in places you probably shouldn’t.” Sam observed. 

“Well who’s fault is that?” 

“You’re the one who got paint on me. I think it’s only fair you get it off of me.” 

Gabriel smirked. “I see.” 

Sam laughed and looked around the room, “How did paint get on the television?” he cringed, “This is gonna be fun to clean up.” 

“You’re lucky I can get paint out of anything.”


	21. Chapter 17

In the middle of the work day, Sam got a phone call from a very pissed off Stella. And the next thing he knew he was at the hospital searching for his boyfriend.

“What the hell did you even do?” Sam asked walking into the room they had him in. 

“I didn’t do anything. Teaches me to be nice. Ugh.” He scowled. “That new guy brought some of his works to the gallery, like I told you, and I was helping him unload an almost 150 pound sculpture from the back of his truck when he stopped in the middle and said he had to get something from his truck, and the next thing I know the car lurches forward, rear ending Stella’s car, and dropping the fucking thing on my arm.” 

“So it’s broken?” 

Gabriel looked at him disconcertedly, “A one-hundred fifty pound sculpture landed on my arm, Sammy. Yes, it’s broken,   
shattered actually, and they only gave me 5 milligrams of morphine. I still can’t move my arm, and it hurts like a bitch.”

“Well, where’s the doctor?” 

“Waiting for me to say yes. I forgot to mention that he said I needed surgery, a metal plates and screws at the top and bottom of my ulna. I was waiting for you to get here before I agreed to the stupid surgery.” 

Gabriel was quite bitter, but it was understandable. It’d been half an hour since he’d called Sam, and almost an hour   
since he’d initially broken his arm. He didn’t want to complain more than he had to, but damn, he really wanted to cry, or sleep, it didn’t matter which. 

Sam watched him worriedly, upset that he was unable to actually help more than being there, and even that felt like it   
was nothing. “Is there really nothing else they can do?” 

Rubbing his eyes tiredly with his free hand, Gabriel barely turned his head to face him, “No, the bone moved too much, I don’t know.” 

The next time the nurse came into the room Gabriel spoke up, “I’ll do it. The surgery I mean. It’s not like I have any   
other choice really.” 

She smiled, “Of course, I’ll tell the doctor.” 

“I love you.” Sam said kissing him lightly. 

“It’s just my arm.” 

“That doesn’t mean I love you any less.” 

“I love you too.” Gabriel smiled, then grabbed Sam’s shirt with his free hand. “If you even think about recording me   
coming out of anesthesia, I will cut your dick off.”

“You ruined a perfectly nice moment.” 

“I think I’m allowed.” He said before Sam was ushered out into the waiting room where he spent almost two hours worried and bored out of his mind.

@@@

“It’s you!” Gabriel exclaimed.

“It is me.” 

“You weren’t here, now you are.” He said wiggling the fingers on his free hand, “Magic.” He whispered. 

Sam laughed, “I’m fairly certain I was here the whole time.” 

“No. I woulda rmem- rememem,” he scrunched his nose, “Remembered.” 

“I distinctly remember you threatening to cut my dick off.” 

Gabriel squinted his eyes, “I would.” he stated, “Go do magic somewhere else. I’m tired.” 

“Alright, we need to check your reflexes,” The doctor said, “We’re not going to move your arm until the eight weeks are up but we want to make sure there was no nerve damage. So can you move your fingers?” Gabriel moved his index and middle finger. “All of your fingers.”

“I’m trying to. Half of my hand feels like it’s asleep.”

The doctor moved his pinky for him, “Can you feel this.” 

“Not exactly.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I can feel it sorta, but it really just feels like it’s asleep. It’s not a pleasant feeling.” 

“Well, maybe it’s your position, but it could be nerve damage from the surgery, how far down does it go?” 

“Just to my wrist.” 

“I’d like to do more tests, but there’s not too much we can do until the bone is healed. The first test I’d have you do is   
the EMG test, but we’ll have to wait for that until your arm is out.” 

“So I’m going to have to put up with it for almost two months?” Gabriel asked. 

“I’m afraid so.” 

Pursing his lips, Gabriel slumped back in the chair. “If Sam comes in here, d’you think maybe we couldn’t mention any of this around him?” 

“Doctor patient confidentiality.” He said. “Although if you want to get better, it might help to tell a few people in your   
life what is going on.” 

“I’d like to not worry him if that’s alright with you.” Gabriel said. 

@@@

Gabriel sat there on the edge of the hospital bed completely dressed and ready to get out of the hell hole that was the hospital. He had absolutely no clue how he was supposed to tell Sam that he couldn’t hardly use his left hand, despite the fact that he couldn’t use the whole arm for two months. Although he was glad it wasn’t his right hand because if he couldn’t paint then he didn’t know what he would do, and losing that would be the worst possible thing for him. Gabriel had a lot of things he wouldn’t like to lose, but painting was at the very top of the list, just above Sam. Of course telling   
Sam that painting came before him in the list of Gabriel’s sanity probably wasn’t a good idea. But he wasn’t a sentimental kind of guy. 

“You ready?” Sam asked walking back into the room. 

Gabriel looked up, “Been ready since I got here.” 

The only pain killer prescribed by the doctor was Tylenol because it wasn’t supposed hurt that bad, but it’s not everyday someone gets a metal plates screwed into their arm. It ached like nothing he’d ever felt before.

Over the next few days, Gabriel seemed a little withdrawn from Sam. He just associated it with the fact that recovering   
from surgery wasn’t exactly the most fun in the world. And according to Gabriel’s boss, he couldn’t get more than three days off of work before going back in. 

One night before bed while they were laying in Sam’s bed, Gabriel spoke up, “You know how it feels when your foot falls asleep?” 

“Yeah.” Sam replied slowly.

“My hand feels like that all the time. And I can only move two of my fingers.” He paused waiting for Sam to say something. When he didn’t Gabriel spoke again, “The doctor said it’s prob’ly nerve damage. But it might get better when I can actually move my arm.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you were going to react differently than you are. I didn’t want you to worry.” 

“I’m gonna worry.” 

“Damn, you’re making me feel so guilty.” Gabriel said. Sam looked at him questioningly, “My lease is up on the 25 and I haven’t renewed it.”

“That’s ten days Gabe! What are you thinking? Angela is gone for the next week. You’re gonna forget. You always forget.” 

“There it is. There’s your overreacting that I knew you’d do. It’s my problem that I can figure out myself.” 

“I am not.” he said defensively. 

“Tell that to the tone of your voice.” Gabriel said getting up from the bed. “I’d like for you to at least trust me enough to know I can take care of myself. I’m not a child who needs a babysitter.”

“I don’t treat you like a child, and don’t think I’m not fully aware of the fact that you don’t need me.”

“What are you even saying?”

Sam sighed. “I don’t know at this point.” 

Gabriel shook his head and left the room.


	22. Chapter 18

Ever since Gabriel had broken his arm, he hadn't been going through his back door to get to Sam's house. Figuring he shouldn't risk harming himself any further he went all the way downstairs and back up.   
He had to work soon, and was bringing Copernicus over to Sam's like he always did.   
It'd only been a day since their stupid little argument, and Gabriel wasn't exactly looking forward to going over there even though it hadn't even been that bad.   
"You should move in with me." Sam said when he opened the door.   
Gabriel almost dropped his cat. "What?"  
"I've been thinking about it ever since you left, and it'd be cheaper and it's not like you don't practically live here anyway so it wouldn't be that different."  
"I-I don't know."  
"You have a while to decide, I just figured it wouldn't be so bad. And I really don't want you to have to rent a motel, especially when there's enough room here."   
Gabriel stood there with his mouth open slightly, "I need to go to work." He said shoving Copernicus into Sam's arms and turning towards the stairs.  
Sam shut the door and placed Copernicus on the floor with a sigh, "Maybe I should have started with sorry." He said aloud. 

Gabriel entered the Gallery and sat at the front desk with his head in his hand. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, and overreacting wasn't going to help him. He was almost positive saying no would end their relationship, and he didn't want that, but moving in together was a step farther than he'd ever done with anyone before.   
"What's got your panties in a knot?" Stella asked sitting next to him.   
He shook his head breaking his focus, "Huh?"  
"What's wrong? You're not your usual chipper self."   
"I'd think you would be tired of hearing about my personal life."  
"Nah, I like being your fairy god mother and making everything better. So tell me what happened, do I need to kick some Moose ass?" Gabriel laughed,   
"No, we just had a tiny disagreement, and then he asked me to move in with him."  
"So do it." She said.  
"It's not that easy Stella. He knows I didn't renew my lease. It feels like charity and I don't want that."  
"Sam loves you. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I'm fairly certain he actually wants you to move in."   
"What if I don't want to."  
Stella squinted, "You don't?"  
Gabriel shrugged, "I don't know."  
"Gabe, I can't tell you what to do. But I think you should do it. What do you have to lose?" She asked getting up from the desk and going into the back room to get more pamphlets.   
@@@

Sam was sat at the dining table in Gabriel's house when he got home drawing with intense concentration. He kept blowing his hair out of his eyes and licking his lips. Thirty minutes later he looked up, aware of Gabriel's presence for the first time.  
"You seemed so into whatever you were doing, I didn't want to disturb you. What were you doing?"   
"C'mere." Sam stuck his hand out. Gabriel got up from the couch and was pulled into Sam's lap. "It's for you."   
"What is it?"   
"Us."  
"Awh," He smiled, "This is terrible."   
Sam frowned "Hey, I spent two hours on that! Not all of us are artistic geniuses."   
Gabriel leaned over and kissed him lightly, "I love it, a lot."  
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I don't mean to treat you like that. I just care about you, a lot, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you."  
"Gimme a few days and I'll have your answer Sammich."  
"Don't say yes because you feel like you have to."  
"I thought you wanted me to move in."  
"I do, I should probably just shut up now..."   
Gabriel laughed and kissed him again, "I don't know if I want to put this on the refrigerator or if I want to frame it."  
"It looks like a four year old drew it." he admitted.   
"Yeah, but don't be so hard on yourself. It's pretty great."   
@@@

It was 9:15 at night by the time Sam got back inside from walking Socks. It wasn't that late, but he was quite tired. Falling into bed at 9:30 he fell asleep instantly. He was dead to the world until he heard the door to his apartment open, checking his phone, he winced at the light. The door to his room opened and he laid back down, relieved that it wasn't a burglar.  
"It's hot in my apartment." Gabriel whined. Sam held his arms out sleepily, and he fell into them burying his face in the crook of Sam's neck. "The air conditioning broke again." He muttered. "I'm so tired of that place. Yours is nice." Sam hummed his agreement, "I wanna move in."   
Sam pulled him closer, careful of his arm, "Yay!" he whispered. A few minutes later they were both asleep again.   
@@@

"You are not lifting anything!" Sam said for the thousandth time.  
Gabriel pouted, "It's my stuff. Besides, aren't we getting rid of most of it?"  
"I've got that other room. We just can't move the big stuff in."  
"Lemme carry a box! I feel useless."   
The constant bickering back and forth was making them irritable, and Sam was really hoping it wouldn't be like that once everything was moved.  
"If you weren't in a cast then maybe you could carry something."  
"That isn't fair. I still have a month and a half left in it."  
Sam stopped and rested the box on the edge of the couch, "I thought you decided to take the plates out."   
Gabriel groaned, "Alright, another three months. I really hate this. D'you know how hard it is to button your shirt with one hand?"  
"No."  
"Well it's difficult." Sam laughed and picked the box back up. "It's only funny until you have to do it Sammich."   
"I'll take your word for it."  
Gabriel had made the decision a while back with the doctor to get the plates taken out for fear that if they left them in then any damage they had provided would spread or get worse. And really, he'd like to be able to move his arm and fingers again.   
"Y'know, now that we live together we have to be all domestic."  
"Like mowing the lawn and painting picket fences white?" Sam asked. Gabriel looked at him impassively."I"m kidding."  
"But I'm grocery shopping because your rabbit food isn't my idea of what goes in a refrigerator."  
"Why don't we do that together? Judging by what used to be in your kitchen, that may not be a good idea."  
Gabriel stuck his tongue out and dragged the final box into the second bedroom. He wasn't sleeping in that room, all of his stuff was just in it; things that didn't fit other places or that he couldn't get rid of for reasons. They were living together now, no take backs.


	23. Chapter 19

Sam shouldn’t have been laughing. He really didn’t want to be laughing, he just couldn’t help it. He’d fallen in love with an idiot. To be completely honest he should have been pissed, but the whole thing was hilarious.   
@@@

“I need you to come bail me out.” Dean said the second Gabriel answered the phone.   
“What?”   
“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re the last person I expected to call too, but I need you to bail me out. I’ve got the cash, I mean, you’d need to get it from Cas, but I’d appreciate it man.”   
“Alright, supposed I say yes, how do you expect me to get all the way out there?”   
Dean sighed, “I don’t know, but I can’t ask Sam and Cas is about to leave on a work trip. Look they’re not giving me another call and if you don’t do it no one else will.”  
“Why are you even in jail?”  
“That doesn’t matter.”  
“Oh, but it does, Dean-o.”  
“I didn’t do anything, except forget to pay like eight parking tickets.” he said sheepishly.  
“Wow! You’re such a criminal!” Gabriel laughed.  
“Shut up. Would you just get your ass out here and bail me out?”   
“Yeah, yeah. Just gimme a little few hours. You’re not exactly close.”   
“Thank you.”

Gabriel paced for a minute trying to figure out where he could produce a car in the next twenty minutes. Dean didn’t want Sam involved and he was the only one with a car, besides Stella and he highly doubted she would let him borrow it, but it was worth a shot.

“What do you want?”   
“You, me, road trip.” Gabriel stated.  
“You, me, staying here.” She replied.   
“I need to borrow your car then.”   
“No.”   
“Stella please! It’s just a few hours out west. You’ll have it back by tomorrow, thursday at the latest.”  
“Borrow Sam’s car.”  
“Please? You can come with me. I have to bail someone out of jail, and I’m not exactly about to take the bus half a state over. I’ll buy you food.”   
“You make such compelling arguments. When are we leaving?”   
“Now?”   
“You’re lucky I like you.”  
Gabriel grinned, “You’re the best!”  
“I know.” 

Scrawling out a quick note and leaving it on the kitchen table, Gabriel left and locked the front door behind him.   
The trip was going along fine until halfway there when on the highway a police car pulled up behind them with the sirens going.   
“Oh my God!” Stella exclaimed. “I’m not doing anything wrong!”   
“Just pull over. It can’t be that bad.” Gabriel said.  
The color drained from Stella’s face, “I can’t.”   
“What do you mean you can’t?”   
“The breaks aren’t working! It won’t even move. Holy Jesus, how do I stop the car?”   
Leaning over, Gabriel pulled the gear shift to the first gear, “Put your hazard lights on.”   
“Why are you so calm? The police are behind us.”   
“You act like I haven’t done this before.” He smiled. “Put the lights on and ease off the gas.”   
“Shit, fuck, it’s not working.” She panicked as the car started to move faster.   
“I said ease the gas, don’t step on it!”   
“What do you think I’m doing?”   
The police was right on their tail, more than likely calling for back up at what he presumed would be a chase. Gabriel hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as it seemed it might be. They were on the highway and having Stella behind the wheel was scaring him more than he was showing.   
“Just take your foot off the gas, and try the break again, and please, for the love of God, would you calm the fuck down?”   
The car was slowing a bit and she’d moved so they were next to the traffic barrier instead of the middle of the highway.   
“I just got the car fixed, why is this happening?”  
Gabriel stayed silent, praying to whatever was out there that whatever Stella inevitably crashed the car into wouldn’t A, be alive, and B, not kill them both.   
“You need to get off the highway. Right now.”   
Turning through an exit, they both held their breath as they drove straight through a red light and came stopping as the car hit head on with another parked car. The airbags went off the they were both alright.  
Checking to make sure his arm was alright, Gabriel pursed his lips, “At least we’re not dead…”   
“Don’t try to make this better than it is.” She snapped.   
“At least it happened when you weren’t alone. I’ve done this before, why do you think I don’t drive?” He asked.  
She shrugged, “I just thought you were too broke to afford a car.”   
“Thanks.” He said pushing the door open with most of his weight. The car had crumpled in the front and the door was bent horizontally down the middle. The door opened fast and he fell onto the pavement with a groan.   
Stella’s door opened fine. She went over to the other car and sighed in relief when there wasn’t anyone in it. .   
The officer following them had already gotten out of his car and was helping Gabriel up. “Are you alright?” He asked both of them.  
“Yeah. The car isn't though.”   
“I can see that. Funny, I was only pulling you over to tell you the air in your tires was low.” Stella looked at him blankly, “Anyway, we’ll get this all straightened out.”

Three hours later they were sat on the curb of the road watching the totaled car be towed away. Insurance had handled a little less than half of the cost for repair and Gabriel offered to pay some, but Stella was still in shock. Without a car there was no way home or to Dean.  
“Why don’t we just ask for directions to a rental car place.” Gabriel suggested, “We need one anyway.”  
“Or we could call Sam.”   
“Or not. I promised I wouldn’t get him involved.”  
“That was before the car was totaled, Gabe.”   
He stood up, “We’ll get there.” He pulled her up too and they started walking in the unfamiliar town. It was nine o'clock at night and there weren’t too many places open on a Tuesday night. 

“It’s a library. And there’s someone there, we can just borrow the computer in there for a minute and find the car place.” Gabriel said walking up the steps.   
“I still think calling Sam is the better option.”   
“No.” he stated.  
The doors opened fine, but there was a man behind the front counter who looked angrily at them, “We’re closed.”   
“We just need to borrow the computer for five minutes.”   
“If you don’t leave I’ll call the police.”  
“Sir, we’ve already dealt with the police today. Please, just five minutes.” The man didn’t say anything more, and went into the back room.   
“Maybe we should go.” Gabriel said.   
“He’s not gonna do it. Besides you wanted to come in here, so lets just find the place and leave.”   
“He’s gonna call the police. D’you wanna get thrown in jail for the night?”  
Stella threw her arms into the air, “What else could go wrong tonight?”  
“Let’s just leave and find somewhere else. Call a taxi or something.”   
“Just call your fucking boyfriend before I do!” She exclaimed reaching for her phone, She blinked and bit her lip, “It’s still in the car. Give me your phone.”   
“No.” he tightened his grip on it,   
“Give me the phone.” She reached for it trying to wrestle it from his hands when it slipped out of their grasp and shattered against the tile floor. She picked it up and tried to turn it back on. “Great, no phone, no car, no internet. What’re we supposed to do?”   
“Leave before the police come.” Gabriel said exiting the library. 

Stella was at her end, all she wanted to do was go home and fall asleep watching a movie like she was planning to do. Of course things like this always happened when Gabriel was involved. She should have known when a secret was involved. Honestly, she really just should have said no, or called Sam when she had the chance to.   
They walked down the street silently, hoping for something to save them.  
“Why don’t we just stop for the night and find a car in the morning.” Gabriel suggested.   
Stella had no choice to agree. The motel they were outside of wasn’t that bad looking,   
Gabriel got them a room making sure it was definitely a two bed room.   
“Use this phone to call Sam so he can pick us up in the morning. And you can’t say no because I’m not going any farther.”  
Gabriel snatched the phone from her hand and dialed Sam’s number, but it went to voicemail, “Okay, I’m going to make sure you actually y’know keep your phone on all the time from now on. This is so inconvenient of you. Stella and I are stuck in Evansville because of your brother, details will come later, anyway it would be totally cool if you could come out here to pick us up at the Bounty motel. Oh yeah, and you can’t call either of our cell phones because they are broken. Okay, thanks. Love you. Bye.” he placed the phone back on the receiver, “Happy now?”   
“Yeah.” She said falling on the bed and falling asleep a few minutes later. Gabriel, unfortunately, couldn’t fall asleep that fast and tossed and turned until the phone rang at midnight.   
He answered in a quiet voice. “Hello?”  
“I don’t know where to even start.” Sam said.  
“It’s probably best to not ask.”  
Sam didn’t speak for a while, “I’ll pull the whole family emergency thing, but when I get there I’d love to hear the whole story, because I don’t know how a note saying you’d be back around now turned into you being stuck in Evansville.”  
“I’m sorry, we fucked up.”  
“I’ll be there around noon.” Sam said.   
“Thank you. I love you.”  
“I love you too.” 

And then the fire alarm went off. So they went outside and waited while the motel didn’t burn down because someone had been smoking something. But the fire department had to come anyway because it was protocol. Gabriel sat with his back against a tree, Stella standing next to him, as he fell asleep for the first time that night.   
He didn’t remember going back to the room, but apparently he did because he woke up around eleven the next morning in the bed. Stella was on the phone again, presumably with Sam, and Gabriel rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. He felt disgusting, and really needed Sam to hurry up. 

“Get up! He’ll be here in twenty minutes!” Stella said throwing a pillow at Gabriel.”I’m so ready to go home!”  
“We still have to get Dean.” he reminded her.   
She groaned, “Why?”  
“Because that’s what we were doing in the first place.” 

Sam knocked on the motel room door before walking inside. “Alright, explain!”   
“Okay so Stella crashed the car because the breaks broke, so we almost died, and then we almost got arrested because we didn’t leave a library, and then Stella broke my phone. Someone tried to turn their motel room into a hot box, and we still have to go to St. Louis.” Gabriel said. “Because we have to bail Dean out of jail.”   
That’s when Sam started laughing, and he couldn’t quit laughing. “i called Dean earlier because you said it was his fault, and Cas already bailed him out.”   
“He said Cas couldn’t.”   
“Well he did.”   
“Oh my God!” Gabriel left the motel room and sat in the car waiting for the others to join him so they could take another three hour drive back home.


	24. Chapter 20

Sam walked into the apartment and directly into several paper cranes hanging from the ceiling. Standing there tangled in at least twenty clear strings and folded papers,   
Sam stared at Gabriel in confusion, but only received laughter as a response. 

“Why?” 

“They were pretty. You weren’t supposed to walk into them.”

“Did you forget there are people in the world taller than you?” 

“I could never forget you’re a Sasquatch.” 

The more he tried to get out of them, the more tangled he got before he gave up and sat on the floor taking all of the cranes with him. 

“How’d you even fold these? You’ve only got one hand.” 

Gabriel smirked, “I’m sold my soul for origami skills.”

“There are so many better things to sell your soul for than origami skills.”

“Too late.” he sang. “Oh yeah, and there are more cranes in the kitchen, and above the sink in the bathroom. Once I started making cranes I couldn’t stop.” 

“You’re extra happy.” Sam observed.

“Duh Captain Obvious! Did you forget that I get to take the cast off tonight?”

“I remember. One of us has to worry, it might as well be me.” 

Gabriel scoffed, “Please, it’s not even that bad. The doc said that the plate in my wrist was pressing down on a blood vessel and having it be that way for almost two months would make me not feel my hand. It’s already better.” He held up his hand and wiggled all of his fingers. 

Sam stood up quickly, “You never told me that!” 

“Surprise!” 

Sam grinned and kissed him lightly before going to change out of his work clothes, only to be attacked by more cranes in the doorway of their bedroom. 

“You wanna not try to kill me with birds anymore?” He called back. 

“I can’t make any promises, Babe.” 

@@@@

There wasn’t a better sound than the buzzing of the saw the doctor was using to take the cast off. He’d had it for a little over three months and Gabriel was more than done with it. He would have pried it off himself if he had to wear it any longer. 

“My hands are free to do whatever they please! Thank you Jesus!” Gabriel shouted   
when he got home. “I feel like making more cranes.” 

“Please no.” 

“You can’t stop me! But I need a shower first.” He disappeared into the bathroom.   
After the shower he walked into the bedroom completely naked. 

“Do you not believe in towels?” Sam asked.

“Clothes are overrated. But if you really want-“ Gabriel grabbed his pair of red booty shorts from the top drawer, “I could wear these.” 

“I haven’t seen you wear those since I first met you.” 

“Only for special occasions, Sammich.” Gabriel winked. 

“Getting your cast off is a special occasion.” 

Gabriel smirked and shut the bedroom door. 

Snapping the waistband of the shorts Sam pulled him closer, “You should wear these   
more often.” 

“Yeah?” He kissed along Sam’s jawline.

“Definitely.” 

There was knocking at the door, and Gabriel groaned, pulling on a shirt, leaving Sam half naked himself. 

“You are such a cockblock.” He said irritated. “Why do you have a baby?” 

“I absolutely cannot talk to you when you’re dressed like that. Put pants on.” Stella said shielding the baby’s eyes. 

“You knock on my door, and disrespect my shorts!” He went back to his bedroom and slipped a pair of jeans on over the red booty shorts. “What do you need?” 

Stella shifted the baby to her other hip, “My sister needed me to watch her baby, but I have a thing, so do you have a thing or can you watch her for me?” 

“You have a date then?”

“It’s just a thing, can you watch Nora or not?” 

“Yeah, alright.” He agreed. “What do we have to do?” 

Sam walked into the living room fully clothed, “What’s happening?” 

“She’s one, like sixteen months or something,” She said handing Nora to a confused   
Sam. “So dinner is baby food, Nora’s still in diapers, and she’s just learning to walk.   
Thank you so much.” She said shoving the diaper bag at Gabriel. 

“Have fun on your date.” He called after her. 

“Now we’re babysitting? Are we ever not gonna be interrupted?” Sam asked.

Gabriel shrugged, “One day, Moosie, one day.” Sam grinned and Nora poked at his dimple. 

Sam put her on the floor and sat across from her. Nora’s eyes widened as she heard Socks’ nails running across the hardwood floor to see the new guest. He attacked her face with kisses, and she started giggling. 

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Sam said pushing the dog back. 

She crawled over to Sam’s lap, and started chewing on his watch. Gabriel tossed a set of toy keys to Sam, “How ‘bout these instead of your watch?” 

“Is she hungry or teething?” 

“Stella did say she needed dinner, and it’s six now.” 

Sam dug in the diaper bag and pulled out two different jars. He held up one filled with pink and another filled with orange, “Ham and ham gravy or lasagna?” 

“I am not feeding a child something that looks like Pepto.” Gabriel said offended, and   
grabbed the lasagna filled jar opening it. Sam picked up the baby into the kitchen and they tried to get her to eat as much of the pureed noodles as they could. Somehow she got baby food on both of them and nothing on herself. 

Thirty minutes later a smell neither of them wanted to smell emanated from the child. 

“Have you ever changed a diaper?” Sam asked holding Nora away from him.

“Yeah, like twenty years ago.” Gabriel replied trying to find the wipes and diaper. 

“It can’t be that hard can it?” 

“Give her here, I got it.” 

After wrestling between a squirmy baby and diaper tabs, Gabriel finally got the diaper on the right way. He let her crawl away as he got up to wash his hands, or rather power wash them.

Nora clumsily got to her feet and toddled over to where Sam was sat with his feet up on the couch, and tried to climb up. But she yawned big and fell back to the floor. Sam picked her up and put her in his lap with a book that he’d found in her bag. They opened it up and looked at the pictures. 

Gabriel put Big Hero 6 in the DVD player and joined them on the couch. Nora glanced up and was mesmerized by the television, discarding the book completely. They watched for a while until the smell from the diaper became overwhelming and Gabriel took action. 

Grabbing the whole trash bag, unable to stand it anymore, he took the trash outside to the dumpster, when he came back into the room he found Sam and Nora asleep. She was drooling slightly on his chest as she clung to the thumb of his left hand, his other wrapped protectively around her. 

Gabriel was unable to keep the smile off his face. Sam had barely let go of her since she got there, and he was one hundred percent okay with that. He’d never really been child friendly, but watching Sam play with Nora was something Gabriel didn’t know he needed in his life. 

Draping a blanket across them both, he proceeded to clean up the baby toys and put them back in the bag. He sat back on the couch and finished the movie until Stella knocked on the front door once again. 

“How was your date?” He asked quietly. 

“Wonderful. I’ve got another date next weekend.” She smiled. 

“Now you’ve got your own love life to worry about!”

“Oh please, I’m still your fairy god mother.” She laughed, “Where’s my niece?” 

“Sleeping on my boyfriend.” 

Stella scoffed, “Already a boyfriend stealer.” 

“Tell me about it. She had him wrapped around her finger.” He said rolling his eyes. 

Stella walked over and carefully picked up the sleeping baby from Sam’s chest and grabbed her bag. “Thanks again, I owe you big time.” 

“No problem.” Gabriel shut the front door behind her and joined Sam back on the couch.


	25. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if it can truly be considered spoilers, but Parks and Rec spoilerish things are mentioned.

Gabriel barged through the front door. “Do you want to witness the miracle that is life?” 

“What did you do?” Sam asked setting his book down on the couch. 

“What do you think I did?” 

Sam eyed him carefully, “I don’t know. Maybe you had a fling nine months ago, or your sister was having a baby, or maybe you’re just being strange like always.” 

Gabriel laughed, “You’re awful calm for someone who thinks I knocked a girl up.” Sam shrugged. “Well I didn’t do anything. Stella said her rabbit was having babies, and honestly I don’t want to see it either, but y’know.” 

“I’m glad it’s just the rabbit.”

Gabriel sat on the couch next to him, “Me too.” He agreed. “Oh hey, Castiel called and he said that they’re throwing my mom a party for her big six-o and they want everyone there. And I know you’ve never met any of my family besides Cassie, but I’m gonna go. I have to go. D’you wanna come too? Please?”

“I’m really getting the vibes that you don’t want to go home alone.”

“Shh!” Gabriel put his finger up to Sam’s lips, “Don’t tell them that.” 

“Yeah, sure. I’d love to go with you.”

After reuniting with Castiel a little over a year ago, the only family Gabriel had really talked with had been their mother. The rest of their family was still kind of touchy, but for their mother’s sake they promised not to say anything about his absence, or the fact that he was bringing someone only Castiel had met. There was no doubt it would be awkward, but they’d all inevitably have a few beers and all tension would be let out, positively or negatively Gabriel had no clue, but he honestly didn’t care. 

The morning before they left they stopped off at Stella’s house, giving her the apartment keys before they left. Sam just hoped the only thing missing from their apartment by the time they got back would be the contents of their kitchen. 

“You cannot tell me you preferred her with Tom.” Sam exclaimed. “There was nothing there, at all.” 

“He’s better than Mark. At least Tom was trying to have fun.” 

“Next you’re gonna tell me you liked Leslie with Dave rather than Ben.”

Gabriel scoffed, “Absolutely not! Besides, bringing up Ben is like bringing up Chris.”

“He doesn’t count right now.” 

“You would prefer Brendanawicz.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Face it, you are basically the same.”

“Oh please.” Sam rolled his eyes. “Tell me one thing that’s similar.” 

“I’m sure there’s something…” He trailed off. 

“Exactly!” 

They’d been arguing about Parks and Rec for a third of the ride to St. Louis and there seemed to be no end in sight until they reached a compromise, agreeing they’d finish the conversation when they weren’t on a highway filled with other cars. 

At almost the exact halfway point in their drive Sam pulled over at a gas station. Gabriel looked at him questioningly. “I’ve been driving for three hours and now I need to pee.” 

“No one’s stopping you.”

When he got back to the car Gabriel was in the driver’s seat impatiently tapping the steering wheel. “It’s my turn.” He exclaimed. A look of panic flashed across Sam’s face, not because of the car, but because he   
couldn’t think of a time when he’d ever seen Gabriel drive. “Don’t worry. I drive better than Stella does.” 

“When was the last time you drove?” 

“Dunno, two, three.” He shrugged. 

“Two or three what? No, I’m driving.” 

“No, I’m driving. Get in the car.” He patted the passenger seat. 

Giving in, Sam opened the door and sat, making sure the seat belt was tight. What seemed to baffle Sam the most was the fact that Gabriel was driving like he never stopped in the first place. 

Gabriel parked the car outside his family’s house, and sat there staring at it. There were four other cars there, including the Impala, which meant Castiel had brought Dean, and suddenly he wasn’t as confident as he was before. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t.” 

“We don’t have to” Sam placed a hand on his shoulder. “But I think you should.”

“Yeah, alright. Now or never, I guess.” He got out of the car before he turned the car back on and kept driving. 

He knocked on the front door. Anna, his sister, opened it and stood there a moment just staring. “Gabriel.” 

“Anna.” 

She laughed and hugged him causing him to stumble of the front step. “You’ve been gone too long!”

“I know.” She dragged him into the house straight into the living room where their mom, Castiel, and Dean were. 

His mother got up from the couch and enveloped him in a hug. “Don’t you dare do something like that again!” 

“I won’t, I promise.”

“Good. Who’s your friend?” She asked addressing Sam who was standing in the doorway awkwardly. 

“Sam… Sam Winchester.” He stuck his hand out.

“Like Dean? I didn’t realize how popular that last name was.” She said shaking his hand.

Dean laughed, “He’s my brother.”

“Oh. Well, it’s nice to meet you.” She turned back to Gabriel, “Put your things in your room, then I want you to tell me everything.” 

Somehow he’d forgotten that he shared a room with Michael, and that they’d both be there for the weekend. There were two twin beds, one with a navy blue comforter, the other covered in dinosaur sheets.   
Gabriel was just glad they’d decided against the bunk beds when they were fifteen and eleven. 

“You’ll never guess which bed is mine.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say the dinosaurs.” 

“Wow. How’d you guess?” Gabriel dropped their bag in front of the bed. “Hey, Mom seems to like you at least.”

“I don’t think this is going to be as bad as you think it is.”

“Yeah, well you haven’t met Michael and Lucifer. Something’ll happen there.”

“Don’t worry.” He looked back over at the bed and started laughing. “I’m sorry, I just, you had dinosaur sheets until you were eighteen?”

Gabriel blushed, “Nineteen.” 

“That’s really cute.” Sam pulled him closer and kissed him. 

Michael barged into the room and they pulled away quickly, “Okay one, if we’re sharing a room this weekend, don’t do that. And two, dinner’s almost ready.” 

“S’good to see you too brother.”

Michael started to leave but turned back, “Y’know I thought it’d be a stretch inviting you. I didn’t even think you’d come. But, thanks for proving me wrong.” He smiled and disappeared down the hallway. 

“See, there’s nothing to worry about.” 

@@@

“Mikey and I have been slaving over this all day,” Lucifer said, “So you better pretend you like it.” 

“It looks great.” Mrs. Novak said, “Thank you.” 

The dinner that actually felt like he’d never left in the first place, Gabriel was thankful. And they accepted Sam into all of it, which was a bonus. They all sang Happy Birthday off key, twice, and it was great. By the end of the night Mrs. Novak ended up with a large bouquet of flowers, two coffee mugs, a book and a painting. 

Mrs. Novak, Dean, Castiel, and Michael had turned in for the night.

“So how’d you two meet?” Anna asked resting her head in her hands on the table. 

“I killed a lizard.” Sam stated. She looked at him like he’d gone crazy. 

“I brought home a lizard from outside and it got in his house.” 

“Honestly from all the other stuff you said happened, I’m surprised you weren’t his lawyer first.” 

Gabriel shrugged, “Me too.” 

“I think you took all the crazy with you. In the almost ten years you missed, you didn’t miss anything.” Lucifer said.

“Nothing? Man, if I could give it share it with you that’d be great.” 

“I don’t know if I want it.” 

“You probably don’t.” Sam agreed. 

The time reached almost one in the morning and they headed off to sleep. 

“Wow, there is no room in this bed.” Sam said. 

“It would have worked if you weren’t such a giant.” 

“I’m so sorry, let me just shrink a few inches.” 

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “So we have to spoon the whole night, how’s that any different from any other night?” 

“If you can’t be quiet, I recommend the living room.” Michael said reaching over and turning the light out. The talking stopped with the absence of light and soon all three were asleep. 

Sam woke up to light pouring in from the window. Smiling to himself, he rolled over and met a pair of golden eyes. 

“Did you know we’ve been together one whole year.” he whispered. 

Gabriel smiled sleepily, “Really? Feels longer.” He whispered back. 

“I don’t know whether or not to be offended.”

Gabriel kissed him, “Don’t be.” 

If Michael hadn’t been in the bed on the other side of the room and they hadn’t been in Gabriel’s old room, something raunchy probably would have happened, but they decided to wait until they left later that evening and got at least halfway home.


	26. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Epilogue fast forward**

They had been together for five years. Sharing an apartment, taking care of their pets, and being so darn, adorably, domestic. It was pretty obvious they weren’t going to break up any time soon, if never at all, and that didn’t bother either of them. Honestly they probably should talk more about their future but the topic was always avoided. Sam and Gabriel weren’t the brightest at that kind of thing.

“We haven’t had a day out in a long time.” Gabriel said. “I think we should go to the zoo. I haven’t seen a giraffe in so long. I think I’m going through giraffe withdrawal.” 

Sam laughed, “We don’t want that now do we?” He kissed him lightly, “Go get your stuff then.” 

A strange squeal escaped Gabriel and he ran from the room. Sam stared at the spot his boyfriend had just been wondering how in the hell Gabriel was actually thirty four and not six.

The zoo was an hour away, and on a Saturday in the middle of July it was crowded as it could have been. The only relief there might have been was the fact there weren’t any summer daycare school groups having a field trip there. Of course if they had been there still wouldn’t have been much difference. 

They wandered for a while, hand in hand, stopping in front of each exhibit for a few minutes before moving on. Until they got to the exhibit they had originally gone there for.

Gabriel gasped and pulled Sam to the giraffe enclosure as children ran and screamed around them. There was one kid though, to their left, who was completely speechless staring and pointing at the giraffes in awe. He’d managed to pull Gabriel’s attention from the animal he’d really wanted to see. A few minutes later they wandered away. 

“Did you even look at the giraffes?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah, of course.” Gabriel waved him off. 

@@@

“Have you ever seen so many flamingoes in your life?” Gabriel asked leaning on the metal fence.

“Never.”

“Why could they possibly need so many?” There were at least forty bright pink flamingoes standing around a small pool of water. “I’m sure if they sold like twenty of them they could buy another hippo or something.” 

“They already have two hippos.” 

“Are you trying to justify the excessive amounts of flamingoes in this zoo?” 

“No, I’m just saying I don’t think they need any more hippos. They could buy seven dogs and make a dog exhibit.”

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow, “This isn’t a pet store Sammy.” 

“I know.”

A family with four kids came up to the fence, laughing and talking, not even considering the amount of flamingoes in the enclosure. Gabriel watched them for a second before walking away towards a different animal. 

@@@

“Look it has a baby.” Sam pointed up at the orangutan. 

“Everything does.” Gabriel mumbled. 

“Hmm?” 

“It’s adorable.” He said louder. 

@@@

Sam noticed where Gabriel’s eyes wandered and where his looks lingered a bit too long, and the thought of what he might be thinking made Sam a little happier than he should have been. But it was a complicated topic, and easily avoidable. Sam didn’t want to avoid it, but he wasn’t going to bring it up if Gabriel didn’t because he was happy the way they were, and if he wanted more, well, then that’d be even better. 

Of course there was still the chance that his glances were out of annoyance, and it wouldn’t happen, and yeah, sure Sam was still okay with it. He didn’t want to get his hopes up any more than they already were. Especially if he was wrong with his assumptions. 

Disappearing for a moment, Sam came back with ice cream for both of them. 

“I’m so disappointed.” Gabriel said. “There’s not a single platypus in this entire zoo.” 

“I think you need to go to Australia for that.” 

“Damn.”

A little boy walked up, the same boy from the giraffes, and tugged on Gabriel’s sleeve. “Mister, have you seen my mommy?” 

He squatted down in front of him, “No, I don’t think so.” The boy started sniffling, “It’s alright. We’ll find her. Do you know her phone number so we could call her?” 

He dug in his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper, “Mommy said to give this to someone if I got lost.”

“Well, this certainly looks like it could be her phone number.” Gabriel pulled his phone out and dialed the number. 

“Hello?” a woman answered on the second ring. 

“Uh, hi. I think we found your missing child,” He pulled the phone away, “What’s your name?” 

“Oliver.” 

“Oliver.”

“He’s not- Oh my goodness. Where are you?” She exclaimed.

“Near the tigers.” 

“Thank you so much. I’ll be right there.” 

A few minutes later a woman with two other children showed up, and Oliver ran to her. “I don’t know how to thank you two enough.” 

“It’s no problem really.” Sam said. 

“I still can’t believe I didn’t realize he was gone.” She shook her head, grabbed Oliver by the hand and led the three children away. 

“You ready?” Sam asked as they wound up back at the front of the zoo.

With one last glance back, Gabriel nodded. With their hands linked, they walked back to the car for the hour drive back to their apartment. 

@@@

The next morning Sam was woken up by the sound of Gabriel rummaging through the closet for some paint. 

“You’re so sunburned.” Sam laughed sitting up. 

“Tell that to your nose, Rudolph.” He found what he was looking for and left the room. 

Sam pulled a pair of pants on and went outside onto the balcony where Gabriel was. He walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s waist as he painted, they’d come a long way with trust since their little paint war. Standing there quietly as he worked, Gabriel spoke up. “Have, have you ever thought of a little munchkin running around the place?”

“Hmm?”

“Y’know, like adopting.” 

A grin filled Sam’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where we must say goodbye.   
> Cheers! Until the next story!


End file.
